Cheque account numbers grew in 2021, despite regular pronouncements of the death of cheques as a form of payment.

According to the latest Reserve Bank payments data, there were 9,891,100 personal cheque accounts in operation at the end of December – an increase of 2.6 per cent over 12 months.

Commercial cheque account numbers fell 3.8 per cent to 2.3 million over the same period. The total number of accounts was up 1.3 per cent.

However, this growth did not mean an increase in the number of cheques written. The number of personal cheques drawn fell 23.4 per cent from 990,600 in December 2020 to 758,900 in December last year.

The number of commercial cheques drawn fell 21.7 per cent to 1.5 million over the same period.

Maybe people thought it would be a good idea to have a cheque account as a way of making payments for purchases ordered over the phone during COVID, when they have been going to shops less. But then they didn’t use them.

Maybe the new cheque accounts were included in packages when new accounts were opened.

Otherwise, trends in payments continued in 2021 much as they have done for some time. 

The value of purchases made using personal credit and charge cards was steady through the year, rising 3.1 per cent from December 2020 to A$25.3 billion in December 2021.

However, balances accruing interest fell 12.6 per cent over the same period to $17.2 billion in December 2021.

Monthly debit card purchases grew 10.4 per cent to $43.9 billion.

The value of cash withdrawals from ATMs in December was $9.6 billion – down 5.8 per cent from $10.2 billion in December 2020.

ATM cash withdrawals have recovered from the COVID-related low of $6.3 billion in April 2020 but have not returned to the pre-COVID levels of $11-$12 billion a month.

The value of payments made using NPP Australia’s Osko overlay rose 38.7 per cent from $59.1 billion in December 2020 to $82 billion in December 2021.