AIB customers should all receive euro chequebooks by the weekend, the bank said yesterday.

Anyone who has used their chequebook in the last year has now been sent a new euro chequebook and should contact their local branch if it does not arrive over the coming days.

The bank has urged customers not to use their old chequebooks - neither by changing the pound sign to euro nor by backdating cheques to December - as a method of payment.

One caller told The Irish Times yesterday, however, that her branch had advised backdating a cheque to make payments. A bank spokesman said this was not its official policy.

The spokesman said customers could get a euro draft at the bank to make payments where they did not have a chequebook. All branches have sufficient supplies of temporary chequebooks which can be requested, he said yesterday.

The bank has begun to post large numbers of chequebooks this week, with the bulk of them expected to arrive with personal bank customers today and tomorrow.

According to the spokesman, everyone with a current account who uses cheques has been issued with a euro chequebook.