CHEQUES

One of the differences between life in Denmark and life in the U.K. is cheques. I haven't lived in the latter since 1992; but until last year, I had a U.K. bank account and a cheque book, which I used to make occasional payments when I was in the country, and send a birthday present to my nephew. On the other hand, I have lived continuously in Denmark since 2000, and have never written a cheque. Not one.

Cheques are possible here. My teenage daughter got a tax rebate of kr.1 in 2010, which came in the post by way of a cheque. Still uncashed, it is pinned to the refrigerator door as a reminder of Danish bureaucratic efficiency, presumably causing a wrinkle in the Inland Revenue's national accounts. But everybody uses Dankort for everyday transactions. This is a free debit card, which virtually every retailer in the country is party to. I say "free", but that means free to the consumer. The costs are shared between the banks and the Government, on the grounds that an efficient payments system is a public good. Some years ago, the Government tried to introduce a 2% charge to cover the costs. But it caused such "bøvl" (fuss and bother) and consumer uproar that it was dropped again soon afterwards.

The U.K. is often going on about how London is the financial capital of the world. So it always strikes me as surprising that cheques, an old-fashioned legacy of the nineteenth century world of bills of exchange, still exist and are widely used there. Admittedly, with the rise of credit and debit cards, not half as many as there used to be. But still surprising that there are any at all, given the rise of IT and the amount of administration involved (the retailer must pay it into their bank and have it registered, that bank then sends it to the payer's bank to get it honoured, the payer's account is debited, the payer's bank notifies the payee's bank that it is honoured etc etc etc.). And there is always a chance that the cheque is lost, stolen or defaced. With Dankort, the process is automatic, and the transaction shows up on your bank statement at 6pm the same day.

Sometimes it is the small things in life that add to its quality. Dankort is one of those.

Walter Blotscher