Computer system and method for initiating payments based on cheques

A system and method for initiating electronic payments based on paper cheques, including a paying party chip-and-PIN terminal arranged to input cleartext data including a cheque number and an amount from a cheque issued by a first bank, at which the paying party has an account, and generating from it encoded data using a key, for the user to write on the cheque; and a computer associated with the first bank, arranged to accept, from a paid party via the internet, data defining a second bank and an account at the second bank, associated with the paid party; accepting, from the paid party, the cleartext data and the encoded data from the cheque, and validating the cleartext data from the cheque using the encoded data and the key; and initiating an electronic funds transfer from the first bank to the second bank of the amount specified on the cheque.