As the payment system in the Dominican Republic move towards the digitization and automation for the benefit of the productive sectors and households, checks are increasingly falling into disuse: if in 2015 payments were made through the issuance of 36 million checksin 2025 only 14.4 million were needed, for a drop of almost 60% in the last decade.
Ten years ago, the checks They represented 10.6% of the payment volume, a proportion that fell to 2.5% in 2025, according to the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD), whose data show that this instrument was surpassed by the use of cards – debit, credit and others – by 64.1%, followed by the electronic transferswhich occupied 32.4%.
If the numbers are observed taking into account the amounts paid, the electronic transfers –both direct and through Payment system Instantly – covered 80.3% of the participation, with 17.1 billion of pesos; Cards now occupy 9.8%, mobilizing up to 2.1 billion and checks 9.9%, with 2.1 billion.
This is a clear example of how much the electronic financial operations and digital in the Dominican Republicat a rate that is already displacing the traditional instruments.
Paid by multiple banks
The checks are a payment instrument –generally physical– through which the owner of an account authorizes his financial intermediation entity to pay a sum of money to another person or entity. This recipient, in whose name the check is drawn, must endorse it to acquire the right to collect it.
According to the data, the multiple banking It is the segment that accounts for 99.7% of the amount of checks that were paid within the economy, mobilizing up to an average of 169,505.6 million of monthly pesos during the last year.
Thus, the other entities present payments through almost marginal amounts. Last year, the savings associations and loans paid a total of 33,289 checksfor a combined value of 23,483.7 million of pesos.
These were followed by savings banks and credit, with 9,452 checks valued at 3,929.7 million pesos and non-monetary financial institutions of the public sector, with 3,307 checks with a total value of 9,726 million of pesos.
- Its use in Dominican Republic is regulated through the Law 2859 about Checks and its modifications through the Law 62-00.
How many of these checks Can’t they get paid?
On some occasions, the financial institution does not pay the check due, generally, to the fact that it registers insufficient funds.
last year alone 2,136 checks were returned for this reason, both those received by financial intermediation entities via deposits, and those that were settled through the Compensation System of checks of the Central Bankwith a value of 675.6 million of pesos.
If this volume is compared with the 14.1 million checks that were actually paid last year, the truth is that the proportion of those that could not be collected for insufficient funds They are minimal.
