Digital challenger bank Monzo has abandoned efforts to join the UK's cheque image clearing system in order to focus instead on its business banking efforts.
The startup last year announced plans to join the image clearing system, a move that would have enabled customers to remotely deposit cheques into their account by taking a snapshot of the paper instrument on their mobile camera.
Monzo is one of a clutch of banks bidding for funding from the RBS bail-out scheme, and is working overtime to deliver a credible model for a business banking service.
In stopping work on cheque image clearing, the app-only bank says that fewer than than 0.1% of its digitally-savvy customers have ever deposited a cheque.
James Berry, payment scheme manager, Monzo, describes the pull-back as a "pause", but admits that the bank has no room in its calendar to pencil in a future date.
"As with most things at Monzo, we’ll revisit it at a later date, armed with a bit more data and re-assess the impact this will have against any other projects we’ve got coming up."