Issuance of traveller’s cheques comes to a stop

The Sri Lanka Banks’ Association (SLBA) said the issuance of traveller’s cheques has been stopped with immediate effect.

Speaking to Daily Mirror, the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association Secretary General said that at a discussion held with the Central Bank all banks agreed to discontinue the issuance of traveller’s cheques.

“At a discussion held at the Central Bank, all banks came to an agreement not to issue traveller’s cheques with immediate effect,” he said.

The Secretary General pointed out the reason behind the decision is the usage of traveller’s cheques being unpopular. According to him, most of the travellers prefer to carry credit or debit cards or cash itself.

“Since people have the facility to carry credit or debit cards and also cash up to $5000, there is hardly any need to use traveller’s cheques. Even in the world now the trend has changed and people have got away with the paper use,” he said.

De Silva stated that the SLBA has not taken any special measures to inform the public with regard to non-issuance as the Central Bank has undertaken the communication part.

“Banks will inform their customers if someone requests for traveller’s cheques. But in a very rare occasion a customer would request so,” he said.