P&H Solutions Teams with Alogent for Check 21 Remote Deposit Automation: Companies Will Demonstrate `Virtual Branch' Solution at BAI Retail Delivery Conference

Business Wire, Nov 17, 2004

BOSTON -- P&H Solutions, the market leader in Web-based business banking cash management, and Alogent Corporation, a leading provider of payment transaction processing solutions for global financial institutions, remittance and payment processors, today announced a joint solution to deliver Remote Deposit Automation for banks' business clients. This integrated solution, P&H Virtual Branch, combines Alogent's Sierra(R) Xpedite(TM) Remote Deposit product and P&H Solutions' Web Cash Manager Suite.

According to Ralph Dangelmaier, P&H president, remote Check 21 deposit capability in the hands of businesses has significant economical and logistical advantages.

"The evolutionary trend in business banking is to put control in the hands of businesses through remote client access technologies," said Dangelmaier. "The branch model is a great first step, but business banking customers will still need to deliver checks to the bank. The process at that point is all in the bank's back office. Our approach in partnering with Alogent is to allow businesses to treat check processing as a remote electronic deposit, performed along side all other forms business banking that currently use Web Cash Manager."

With P&H Virtual Branch, business banking customers launch Alogent's Sierra Xpedite from the Web Cash Manager menu to scan, verify, approve and then transmit check information directly to the banks. The Alogent system automatically recognizes amounts, validates code-lines and balances deposits. The images and related data are then sent securely to a data center for onward processing.

According to Terry Monteith, SVP of Product and Marketing at P&H, this approach leverages P&H workflow and entitlements capabilities with Alogent's core deposit automation technology to create a new cash management function, remote deposit.

"With P&H Virtual Branch, customers can leverage Web Cash Manager's ability to allow administrators to set limits, control system and account access, as well as approve deposits," said Monteith. "Virtual Branch is a powerful solution for those banks that want to extend their reach to areas where they do not have branches, provide a low volume lockbox solution and provide a value-added convenience to their customers."

According to Christine Barry, Senior Analyst for Celent Communications, the P&H and Alogent solution provides banks with a powerful tool for leveraging Check 21 legislation for competitive advantage in today's changing depository services environment.

"Check 21 has ushered in a new era in cash management for banks," said Barry. "Many corporations maintain an astonishing number of banking relationships principally because of the historic need to make local check deposits across their geographic footprint. Check 21 provides a legal framework for businesses to scan checks in their offices and make electronic deposits to a single bank, regardless of where the bank may be located. This deposit process simplification represents significant savings in overhead for many corporations."

The Virtual Branch module gives banks and their customers the benefits of Remote Deposit Automation including less work, increased accuracy, reduced costs and increased profit for businesses. In addition, it allows customers to export payment information to accounts receivable systems, dramatically reducing re-keying and posting errors. Check truncation also helps remove a bank's geographical limitations by eliminating the cost and liability of regular trips to bank branches to deposit checks. Virtual Branch also streamlines deposit preparation by reconciling deposits to posted payments, which improves accuracy and potentially provides accelerated funds availability.

"In response to growing customer demand for a Check 21 business banking remote deposit solution, we sought a partner with demonstrable success," said Dangelmaier. "Several providers had image capture capability, but Alogent stood apart as an innovator in deposit automation. We knew that would be important to our customers."

"Both Alogent and P&H bring unique core competencies to the post Check 21 marketplace," said Paul Citarella, EVP & General Manager at Alogent. "There is a natural synergy between the P&H leadership in cash management and the pioneering work done by Alogent in image based payment processing. We look forward to a successful relationship between the two companies."

About P&H Web Cash Manager Suite

The P&H Web Cash Manager Suite is the industry-leading web-based corporate cash management system. It allows financial institutions of all sizes to uniquely package products and services for different markets, or even individual customers, from a single flexible platform. Financial institutions can choose from over 60 different modules designed for the smallest SOHO client up through the largest corporate client. The P&H Web Cash Manager Suite also provides an infrastructure for integrating other products and services offered by financial institutions.

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