With the automation of cashless payment transactions, the fact that a cheque is a payment instrument which is payable at sight has proved to be one of its key disadvantages. In other words, cheques must always be collected and presented in paper-based form. In 1985, the central associations of the German banking industry and the Deutsche Bundesbank agreed on a paperless cheque collection procedure (formerly called the BSE Agreement, now part of the Cheque Agreement), while deliberately waiving the statutory obligation to physically present cheques. The handling of BSE cheques (since 2002 cheques below EUR 3,000) is fully automated and,.
