Cheques Died. The Liability Didn't.

Your client's director signs the back of a customer's promissory note. The bank wanted a signature before it would discount the paper. Everyone called it a formality.

Eighteen months later the customer collapses. The bank does not chase the customer. It chases your client, and it can have judgment before any trial on the merits.

Cheques stopped clearing at the end of 2020, and most practitioners filed the Bills of Exchange Act 34 of 1964 under history at the same time. The cheque died. The Act did not.

Promissory notes still run SME credit. Signatures still land on the back.