The Bank and Customer Relationship, Combination of Accounts and Set-Off

A bank is under a duty to pay on demand cheques drawn on it by a customer, provided that they are in all respects genuine and complete and provided that sufficient funds or overdraft facilities are available on the customer's account. As a general rule, a bank may combine two or more accounts of the customer in order to pay a cheque. This amounts to set-off. The question of the combination of accounts and set-off, although not pleaded in so many words and in a slightly different context, came before the court in Absa Bank Limited v Rossouw 2016 JDR 0226 (GP). This note deals with the legal position