874,000 Bad Checks Written in 1 Month

EghtesadOnline: Checks worth about 195 trillion rials ($866 million) bounced during the Iranian month to July 21 -- up 4.9% compared to a month before.

News ID: ۷۵۰۹۰۲

06 September 2020

An estimated 874,000 bad checks were returned by banks showing 0.8% decline in one month, according to monthly data released by the Central Bank of Iran.

Bounced checks accounted for 9.6% and 9.5% of the total volume and value of drawn checks in the month. In the month earlier, bad checks accounted for 11.2% and 12% of the total volume and value of checks, respectively.

Bounced checks in Tehran Province alone accounted for 8.7% and 7.8% of all checks drawn in the province in terms of volume and value.

During the period under review the number of checks returned in the capital reached 254,000 worth 83 trillion rials ($368.88 million).

Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province ranked first with the highest ratio of bounced checks to issued checks at 16.9%.

Kurdistan Province was next at 14% and the ratio for Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari was 13.7%.

Likewise, provinces with the lowest ratio were Gilan at 6.8%, Alborz 8% and Mazandaran and Yazd jointly 8.7%.

***Issued Checks Rise 33%

During the period under review the number of issued checks rose 15.4% to reach 9.1 million. In value terms, this up 33% reaching 2,054 trillion rials ($9.12 billion) by July 21.

More than 2.9 million checks valued at 1,065 trillion rials ($4.73b) changed hands in Tehran Province in the month.

Tehran had the highest share of issued checks in volume and value accounting for 32.2% and 51.8% of all checks, respectively.

Isfahan Province was next both in volume and value, representing 10.4% of the checks drawn and 6.1% of the value of checks.

More than 8.2 million of all checks were processed by banks in the reviewed month. The value of cleared checks was 1,859 trillion rials ($8.26b). Cleared checks rose 17.4% in volume and 36.8% in value on a monthly basis.

Banks processed more than 826,000 cashier checks worth 1,579 trillion rials ($7.01b), indicating 21% and 35.2% hike in volume and value, respectively.