Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain) announced that since the 1st of January 2010 it had been issuing its new cheque books in accordance with the new security standards and specifications set by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB).In accordance with a CBB announcement, a 19 month grace period has been granted to clear old design cheques to minimise inconvenience to customers. Accordingly, old design cheques will continue to be accepted for clearing until 1st August 2011, however after this time period, a penalty charge will be enforced on the use of these cheques. Mr. Khalid Rafea, Executive Manager and Head of Banking Group at KFH-Bahrain, said "We are pleased to be adhering to the new security standards of cheques and all cheques issued for our Retail, Corporate and Priority Banking customers are in accordance with the CCB regulations". "There is no doubt that with the standardization and new security features of the cheques, customers will benefit from a faster and more efficient cheque clearing process while minimising cheque fraud. I would like to assure all our valued customers that KFH-Bahrain is providing every possible means to help customers change their old cheque books to new ones with the least amount of inconvenience" he added.