In my inbox this morning:

Dear Customer

Please take note of the following important information regarding cheques:

1. With effect from the 16th of July 2012, the maximum value for which a cheque can be written will be reduced from R5-million to R500, 000.

After consideration the Banking Industry has decided to reduce the cheque item limit from R 5 million rand to R 500,000.00.

This means that cheques written above the value of R500, 000 after the 16th of July 2012 (the implementation date) will not be processed for value, i.e. the maximum value of a cheque will be no more than R500,000. It is important to note that this is an industry wide initiative and will not be implemented by Standard Bank alone.