NCR Says Check-Imaging Decision Delays Could Cost Financial Institutions

As a result, NCR has identified five core considerations for banks now preparing to take advantage of the opportunities and efficiencies presented by check truncation and image exchange. Banks with imaging technology will: -- Have greater opportunity to reduce fraud. Check imaging technology will help to reduce the annual $10 billion check fraud problem in the United States. Transactions will be cleared and returned faster and fraud detected sooner. Banks that remain paper-based may become a target as bad guys gravitate to known systems. -- Have a customer service advantage. By deploying check truncation and imaging technology, banks will be able to offer expanded banking hours to both commercial and consumer customers, as well as next-day availability for deposited funds. Customers can access check files 24/7 online. Banks without these services will have a competitive disadvantage. -- Benefit from operational advancements. Faster clearing means faster interbank collection and significant processing cost reductions. To take advantage of these efficiencies, banks must first determine where to capture the check image and how to store that image. Some will capture at the teller window, in the branch back office, at the banks commercial customers, at the automated teller machine (ATM), at the retail point-of-sale or in a central processing area. -- Have new revenue opportunities. Check truncation and image exchange will enable banks to expand service offerings and tap new sources of revenue. -- Reap the greatest customer service rewards if they are able to explain the impact of Check 21 to their customers in plain language. The Federal Reserve is mandating the required legal language that must be distributed to customers through statement inserts. However, regulators are leaving the actual consumer education plans to each financial institution. Frontline and call-center staff must be able to explain and answer customer questions plainly, beyond the legal language. More than 50 billion checks are processed with NCR technology annually. According to Taylor, NCRs expertise in all areas that a check touches makes it uniquely positioned to lead banks through the evolution of the check-payment industry.