The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has revealed that Kenyan businesses are losing an estimated Ksh 68 billion every year due to bounced cheques, highlighting the growing financial burden caused by dishonoured payments across the economy.
Data from the apex bank’s Automated Clearing House shows that out of the roughly 1.2 million cheques processed every month, about 28,000 are rejected. The dishonoured cheques carry an average value of Ksh 204,000 each, resulting in disrupted transactions worth approximately Sh5.7 billion every month.
The figures underscore a long-standing challenge for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which depend on timely payments to maintain cash flow and meet operational expenses.
When cheques bounce, companies are often forced to delay supplier payments, postpone expansion plans or seek costly short-term financing to bridge cash flow gaps. Many businesses also spend significant time and resources pursuing debt recovery through legal channels.
As concerns over unpaid debts continue to grow, debt recovery firm Verify-Cheque has unveiled a cloud-based platform aimed at helping businesses recover money tied to dishonoured cheques faster and more efficiently.
The company says the launch marks a major transformation from its traditional paper-based operations that served businesses across Africa between 1990 and 2009.
During that period, Verify-Cheque provided businesses with an alternative to lengthy court processes by helping them recover debts through manual systems and publication-based recovery mechanisms.
According to the firm, the previous model achieved an average recovery rate of 62.3 per cent while helping businesses reduce bad debt exposure and improve liquidity.
“Although the newly launched Verify-Cheque platform retains the firm’s core objective of facilitating fast and cost-effective debt recovery, it introduces a fully digital infrastructure designed for modern businesses,” the company said.
The platform enables businesses to manage the recovery process online through a dedicated subscriber portal. Users can upload details of unpaid cheques, send debtor notifications and submit cases for listing in the Register of Dishonoured Cheques.
The system also provides analytics that allow businesses to review payment records, monitor debtor behaviour and assess recovery performance over time.
In addition, real-time monitoring tools allow subscribers to track responses from debtors and follow the progress of settlements from a single dashboard.
“Real-time tracking capabilities give subscribers immediate visibility into debtor responses and settlement progress, while collection monitoring tools enable firms to track payments made on previously dishonoured cheques,” the company noted.
Recovery
To encourage uptake, Verify-Cheque has introduced a simplified self-onboarding model. Businesses joining the platform purchase credits worth $100 (approximately Ksh 12,930), which can then be used to access the Register of Dishonoured Cheques for $1 (around Ksh 129.50) per search.
The company is also offering a promotional incentive where all dishonoured cheques submitted within the first 30 days of subscription will attract no recovery commission.
Under the recovery framework, debtors are given 28 days to settle outstanding amounts or raise disputes. If no resolution is reached, the cheque details are listed in the register, increasing pressure on debtors to clear their obligations.
Once payment is made, the affected business receives the full principal amount directly into its account. Verify-Cheque then issues a separate invoice for its standard 15 per cent recovery commission before removing the debtor’s details from the register.
The launch comes as cheque transactions continue to play a significant role in Kenya’s economy despite the growth of digital payments. CBK data shows the value of cheque transactions has remained above Sh200 billion monthly for most of the past decade.
Between January and November 2025 alone, cheques facilitated transactions worth Sh2.215 trillion, averaging Sh201.4 billion every month.
The figures demonstrate that while Kenya has embraced mobile money and electronic payments, cheques remain an important payment method for businesses, making efficient debt recovery solutions increasingly necessary in the face of rising cases of dishonoured payments.
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