As well as the daily withdrawal limit, Cypriots may not cash cheques.

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As well as a daily withdrawal limit of 300 euros, Cypriots may not cash cheques and those leaving the country will only be allowed to take 1, 000 euros with them.

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Payments firm Paypal has launched a chip-and-pin machine designed to offer new sales methods to UK small businesses that have previously relied on cash or cheques.

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No wonder the card firms' new mantra is that their biggest competitors are not each other but cash and cheques, which still account for four out of five of all transactions.

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Civil servants are still being paid, but they have to travel to the south to cash their pay-cheques, past those 26 road blocks.

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"More cash payments were made, more cheques written out and more transfers made, " prosecuting barrister Daniel Fugallo told the court.

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The disruption would mean cheques failing to arrive, hurting small businesses first, and people already short on cash having to wait longer for badly-needed giro cheques.

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And if they need cash urgently, troubled companies are free to write cheques which they cannot cover and float commercial paper they are unable to redeem.

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No-one has travellers' cheques any more - they have bank cards that work in most cash machines across Europe.

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