This process has existed in Europe for nearly ten years - with a slight differance.
We have used a separate plastic card to initiate the process of funds transfer. The check book is now rarely used (certainly in Germany and the UK, of which I have direct experience) and the card is treated as if it were a credit card but is called a debit card, as the funds are taken immediately.
Three years ago, I purchased a car with this method. The funds were available in my checking account. At the garage, I present the debit card. Due to the high value, the card handling device automatically triggered a telephone call from the bank's handling centre to me. I verified my identify and the transaction was complete. Other than the verification, it was the same process as if I had been to the supermarket.
In the UK, we stopped passing checks from bank to bank (also) more than ten years ago. The original check stays in the bank where it was presented (either for cash, or deposited by a company/person) and the check is 'read' electronically and the information sent digitally between computers.
When I went to live in Germany, in 1998 for a period of 18 months, I was not issued with a check book at all. Everything was electronic. I was given checks only when I requested them but the bank was right - I hardly used them. When buying things mail-order, for example, you give them your bank account number and bank id code and they would then have signed permission to take the money.
It works fine.
Onan: Why will it "be that bit more dificult to build hours now."??