Wells Fargo Taps Carreker to Develop Image Exchange Software

The software is designed to ultimately enable banks to truncate checks entirely, exchanging only images. This will significantly reduce banks operations and transportation costs, their need for physical operations centers, and their exposure to payments fraud. At the same time, image exchange will enable banks to develop and offer new products that meet consumer and commercial customer demand for payment information. ExchgLink will support image exchanges for shared archives and in-house archives through each anticipated stage on the payments evolution path to image-only exchange. It will accommodate pre-Check 21 conditions (that is, before the enactment of pending legislation that provides for image replacement documents) as well as conditions after the legislation takes effect. ExchgLink is designed to be a comprehensive solution that maximizes the cost savings and productivity benefits potential of the image-enabled environment that Check 21 will precipitate. Besides the basic functions of image send and receive, it will also support item-level reconciliation; image quality assurance (by interfacing seamlessly with Carrekers Image Inspector software); and back office functions (by interfacing with Carrekers suite of image-enabled back office systems - Inbound Returns Express, Adjustments Express, and Exceptions Express). ExchgLink will meet the systems requirements defined by a coalition of leading payment processing banks under the auspices of SVPCo, the bank-owned private sector payment system. Wells Fargo, a member of this coalition and its lead systems architect, has worked with Carreker to establish requirements for the new software that leverage Carrekers CheckLink software for electronic check presentment (ECP). Carreker and Wells expect to test ExchgLink in fourth quarter 2003 and to be in production in early 2004. Other banks involved in defining the systems requirements with SVPCo are expected to pilot the system with interbank exchanges in 2004. Carreker expects to begin recognizing revenue from ExchgLink in mid-2004. Check 21 (also known as the Check Truncation Act of 2003) facilitates the exchange of images instead of paper checks by permitting banks to truncate checks and substitute image replacement documents. It will drive considerable change as banks adapt their processes, platforms, and technology to accommodate an increasingly imaged-based environment.