•  Banks are required to provide both the drop box facility and the facility for acknowledgement of the cheques at the regular collection counters and no branch should refuse to give an acknowledgement if the customer tenders the cheques at the counters.
*  *  *  Theory and practice My long journey from the theory to the practice of monetary policy – the title of an ECB colloquium in mid-March – has come to an end. The Watchers Conferences have been an important part of this journey in recent years.