REMOTE DEPOSIT CAPTURE

Credit Union Management, Dec 2007

In a recent article on CUES Tech Port(www.cues techport.com/remotedepositmusthavearrow), Michael Croal calls remote deposit capture for credit unions' business members a "must-have arrow in the quiver."

In the article, Croal, a senior director with Cornerstone Advisors Inc. (www.crnrstone.com), CUES' partner in CUES Tech Port, says remote deposit capture is creating excitement because the perceived return on the investment for business customers is large and will grow exponentially as the next wave of RDC technologies evolve and come to market.

According to the article, today's RDC feature set consists exclusively of checks being scanned at the commercial customer's office and sent electronically to the financial institution. Using these images, the customer's account is credited and the item is cleared through the ACH or image cash letter exchange networks. There are numerous efficiencies for everyone involved.

* The customer saves time and does not have to rush to the branch before it closes.

* The branch has fewer transactions and can either reduce staff or focus on its sales culture.

* The back office has fewer paper items to handle, reducing the chance for errors.

* The financial institution can clear the item cheaper and faster through image networks.

Using advanced technologies such as XML (Extensible Markup Language), the challenges facing the next generation of RDC can be addressed, Croal notes in the article:

* RDC and accounts receivable software can be interfaced.

* RDC can become more robust to recognize invoices and coupons instead of just checks.

* It must use optical character recognition to get customer names and account numbers.

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