Depositing a cheque by photo in Cyprus: is it valid?

In short

Since 30 October 2026 a cheque may be presented to your bank as a digital image of both its sides, if the bank accepts it. The image counts as presenting the original.

Klitos Platis, advocate

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A cheque may now be presented to your bank as a digital image of both its sides, sent through the bank’s own systems, instead of handing in the paper original. The image has the same legal force, and the cheque is treated as presented for payment.

The change is Law 142(I)/2026, published in the Official Gazette on 30 October 2026, which amends the Bills of Exchange Law, Cap. 262. It sets no later date for its entry into force. It was published the same day as Law 143(I)/2026, which lets the bank record a bounced cheque electronically, as our article on the electronic record of a bounced cheque explains.

Who this affects

Anyone who is paid by cheque. In Cyprus that still means many contractors, suppliers, landlords and small companies, who until now had to take each cheque to a branch or a deposit machine.

It also affects the people who write cheques. A cheque handed to a creditor can now be presented the same day from wherever the creditor happens to be, and the clock for a returned cheque starts from that presentment.

What the law now says

A photo of the cheque, sent through your bank’s system, is a valid presentment. The new section 74Ε of Cap. 262 allows a cheque to be presented to the bank in one of two ways:

by presenting the original cheque at the bank, as before;
by a digital image of both sides of the cheque, through the systems of the bank to which it is presented.

The second way is available only if that bank accepts the digital image as a means of presenting a cheque. The law allows banks to offer it, and obliges none of them to.

Under section 74Ε(3), the digital image has the same force, and the original cheque is treated as having been presented for payment. The amending law also defines the digital image, in section 2, as the faithful and clear digital representation of the original cheque.

A clear image of both sides, accepted by your bank, now does what walking the cheque into a branch used to do.

The rules that come with it

The image travels on the rules that already govern electronic clearing between banks. Section 74Ε(4) applies to it subsections (2) to (6) of section 74Γ and the whole of section 74Δ, which since 2003 have allowed one bank to present a cheque to another by sending its essential details electronically.

Three of those rules matter to the person depositing the cheque. Under section 74Γ(2), the presentment need not be made at a set place or during working hours.

Under section 74Γ(3), the bank the cheque is drawn on may, before the close of the working day after presentment, require the original. If it does, the electronic presentment is not recognised. Section 74Γ(4) adds that such a request is not a sign that the cheque will not be paid.

Under section 74Δ, the rule of section 52(4), that the holder must exhibit the bill to the person asked to pay and hand it over once paid, does not apply to a cheque presented this way.

What this means in practice

Check first whether your bank offers it. If it does, follow its instructions on the image: the law requires both sides, faithfully and clearly reproduced, and a blurred or partial image is not the representation the definition describes.

Keep the original cheque. The law does not say what the depositor must do with the paper once the image is sent, so read your bank’s terms. Two reasons point the same way:

the bank the cheque is drawn on may still call for the original by the close of the next working day;
if the cheque is not paid, the original and the bank’s record of the reason and the date are the evidence for a criminal complaint or a civil claim.

Note the date of presentment. For a cheque returned for lack of funds or a closed account, the fifteen days of section 305A of the Criminal Code run from presentment, and with an image that may be the day you send it.

For a business that receives many cheques, it is worth asking the bank in writing how it treats a digital presentment that the paying bank later rejects, and how quickly it reports a returned cheque. Our banking lawyers and our debt recovery team can look at your terms, or at a cheque that has come back unpaid.

The image makes depositing easier; the paper cheque is still the thing to keep.

Questions we are asked

Can I now deposit a cheque by sending my bank a photo of it?

Yes, if your bank accepts a digital image as a means of presenting a cheque. Law 142(I)/2026 added section 74Ε to the Bills of Exchange Law, Cap. 262, which allows a cheque to be presented through the bank’s own systems as a digital image of both its sides. The law permits it; it does not oblige any bank to offer it.

Does the photo have the same legal effect as handing in the cheque?

Yes. Section 74Ε(3) gives the digital image the same force, and the original cheque is treated as having been presented for payment.

Should I keep the paper cheque after I send the image?

Keep it. The bank the cheque is drawn on may still call for the original before the close of the next working day, and if it does, the digital presentment is not recognised. If the cheque bounces, the original is also part of your evidence.

Sources

Klitos Platis

Advocate, Partner

Kleanthous & Platis LLC, Cyprus
Published 5 November 2026

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