Muscat: Under the new instructions, cheque beneficiaries will now be able to receive the available amount in a customer’s bank account even if the balance is lower than the total value of the cheque presented. The measure applies to all types of cheques, regardless of value, and is designed to reduce bounced cheques and related legal disputes.

The regulations cover a wide range of cheques, including crossed or restricted cheques payable to a beneficiary’s account, bearer and order cheques, as well as cash, bearer, or order cheques presented at bank teller counters. While beneficiaries are required to accept partial payment, the cheque issuer retains the right to resubmit the cheque to collect the remaining amount, in line with the terms approved by the Central Bank.

The CBO clarified that beneficiaries continue to retain all legal rights to claim the unpaid balance of a cheque, in accordance with Article (566) of the Commercial Code and relevant provisions of the Penal Code.

To support the new framework, the Central Bank has upgraded its electronic cheque clearing system to enable partial cheque payments during interbank clearing among licensed banks in the Sultanate.