I assume that solely relates to cheques no longer being issued to your region.

Yep, I've submitted my details but, as yet, no test deposit.

The way my AdSense train is going it'll probably fall off the rails before the end of the year.

Does this mean that you won't be paid this month, HP?

If so, you would have thought that Google would have timed it better, so you could update in time.

When it happened to me it didn't affect the payments schedule (I have been paid for that month on time), but I tried to do as fast as possible when I had to re-verify my bank account. I really think you should not worry about that. When I logged in, there was a big red bold "ON HOLD" instead of my balance (yes I heavily freaked out!), and everything went ok after the verification process :)

No idea why but my test payment failed therefore now have to check with bank why not since I can't see any plausible reason.

It's probably going to take longer to get an EFT than a cheque this month!

When I had to revalidate mine, it took a day two longer than I expected before it showed in my account.

I just saw this in my account (just got paid two days ago into the same account I have had for 9 years) The wording is different then what the OP posted:

You have no valid forms of payment available.
This account has no valid form of payment. Please specify a form of payment in order to get paid.

Edit:

This message just appeared in my account

Your AdSense account has been upgraded to a new payments system. Learn more.

So apparently, it is the same thing. Strange that it took almost 24 hours to appear after the first message. What a PITA.