Eliminating Bank Drafts as a Form of Payment at UBC

A bank draft is a paper payment instrument, similar to a cheque but issued and guaranteed by a bank. Historically UBC has used bank drafts whenever identified by a vendor as the preferred payment method. However, with the increase of electronic payments in recent years, the university has noticed a significant decline in vendors requesting bank drafts. Bank drafts are also vulnerable to fraud and loss, as well as being time-consuming to produce.

This summer, UBC’s Treasury department and the Accounts Payable unit in Financial Operations initiated a pilot project to move vendors requesting bank drafts to another payment method – with great success. Because of the success of the pilot, the decline in demand, and the recognized drawbacks of using this payment method, UBC has decided to eliminate the issuance of bank drafts moving forward.

If you have any questions, please contact finops.support@ubc.ca.