New Cheque Style Provides Increased Security

The Honourable Loyola Sullivan, Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board, unveiled the province�s new cheque stock today featuring new measures which increase security and feature more methods to prevent fraud and duplication.

The new measures include the introduction of thermo-chromic ink which reacts to warm body temperature with a simple thumb-rub on the new provincial logo. On an authentic cheque, the logo will disappear to the warm touch - a feature which makes unauthorized duplication virtually impossible.

The new cheque stock also features a micro print line at the top of the cheque featuring the words Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. This security feature is also very difficult to reproduce.

�The validity of the new cheques is easy to see,� said Minister Sullivan. �With the more sophisticated scanning and copying technology in our marketplace today, we have a responsibility to make our system as tamper-proof as possible. This new stock makes it easier for our vendors to authenticate government cheques and will decrease the number of fraudulent cheques in the system.�

Additionally, in compliance with new standards being implemented by the Canadian Payments Association in 2007, the new cheques feature pre-printed boxes for the date and cheque amount.

Annually, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador issues over one million cheques to fee-for-service medical providers, civil service payroll recipients, income support recipients, teachers, and provincial pensioners, who opt to receive paper cheques over the direct deposit system.

While government issues payments to over 35,000 vendors, approximately 30 per cent of those vendors choose to receive government payments via direct deposit and others are encouraged to consider switching to the paper-less method.

In the short term, a combination of old cheque stock and new cheque stock will be in the system as government uses up the remaining stock to reduce waste. Government will start using the new stock this week.

Photo #1: New cheque stock

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Media contact:
Deborah Pennell
Director of Communications
Department of Finance
709-729-6830, 685-6612
deborahpennell@gov.nl.ca

2006 12 19                                           10:00 a.m.