Summary outline,
The data and the
outline of their trends show that the risk level involved in check transactions
in the Israeli economy declined significantly in recent months. This decline is reflected in a decline in the
rate and in the volume of checks without cover, even relative to routine
times. This situation also reflects a
persistent and consistent decline in the number of accounts over which a “bank”
restriction has been imposed (meaning a restriction imposed due to a refusal of
checks without cover, in contrast with a “nonbank” restriction, which is
imposed due to a debt to the Enforcement Authority or bankruptcy proceedings),
a decline that continued until the end of 2020—even after the end of the
leniencies published by the Ministry of Justice in relation to the imposition
of restrictions due to checks without cover.
Alongside this, the
decline in economic activity in view of the spread of the pandemic, the
lockdowns, and the health restrictions, together with the cancellation of
checks and suspension of account restrictions at the start of the crisis,
apparently led to a reduction in the volume of check use, with a parallel
increase in the level of caution in transactions that continued to be made
during the reviewed period.