Business Notes BANKING

Banks in the U.S. charged customers $145 million in fees last year for writing checks that bounced because of "uncollected funds." That is banking jargon for deposits that have not yet been credited to a customer's account during a holding period, as long as three weeks for out-of-town drafts, that the institutions have traditionally imposed as both a precaution against bad checks and a way to profit from the float. But the consumer frustration of waiting for a check to clear will be vastly reduced by new U.S. regulations that took effect last week. The law requires that checks drawn on local institutions must clear within three business days and that out-of-town checks may take no more than seven days. By September 1990, the holding period will shrink to two business days for local checks and five days for out-of- town checks.

Not everyone is delighted by the reform. For grocers, who cash 3.5 billion checks a year, it will require some irksome adjustments. Reason: the regulations impose new, standardized endorsement procedures to help speed up the process of moving checks to their appropriate banks. For example, endorsements must be confined to the top 1 1/2-in. portion on the back of the check. Many supermarket managers will have to buy new equipment to stamp precise endorsements on the checks and train their staff how to use the new system.