NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Viewpointe (www.viewpointe.com), the nation's leading provider of check image exchange and archive services, today released its latest check clearing volumes. Viewpointe has achieved unprecedented annual growth of nearly 502% in checks cleared via image share and exchange. More importantly, an average of less than five percent of image exchange transactions processed in the Viewpointe network result in substitute checks or Image Replacement Documents (IRDs). This substitute check rate falls drastically below the industry average of 34% as reported by the Federal Reserve and the Electronic Check Clearing House Organization (ECCHO) in June.
"The industry is now moving at a significant pace to get connected to image exchange, yet substitute checks remain as one of the greatest impediments to tapping the benefits of electronification," said Diane Scott, chief sales, marketing, and product officer for Viewpointe. "Our financial institution customers are proof positive that the industry can eliminate substitute checks and are closer than ever to 100% check electronification."
Substitute checks remain an ongoing challenge for the financial services industry on many levels:
-- Cost: Substitute checks are expensive. Institutions producing
and processing substitute checks realize an incremental cost by
producing paper instead of processing images. Outsourced paper
providers charge between 4.5 cents and 12 cents per item while
images cost just tenths of a cent to exchange electronically.
Paper charges can also escalate if printing and shipping windows
are shortened.
-- Image Quality: Due to the nature of reproductions, a printed
substitute check will rarely be of equal quality to the native
image. As a result, they have greater potential to create errors
and force delays in processing times.
-- Duplicates: Duplicate detection at the paying bank is minimized
with image exchange due to file control and settlement entries.
Paper, by virtue of human intervention, can cause duplicate files,
posts and presentments. This causes administrative challenges for
recipients, an obstacle experienced widely throughout the industry.
-- Required Resources: To ensure proper printing, a printer operator
must always be present and watchful. Clearing and restarting a
printer after a simple paper jam, for example, could create
duplicate substitute checks.
According to the latest report from the Federal Reserve and ECCHO, the rate of substitute checks declined by only 3% from March to June 2007. Unfortunately, substitute checks still comprise more than a third of all check volumes cleared and settled in the United States. Unlike other providers, less than five percent of the image exchange volume processed within Viewpointe's customer network results in a substitute check.
"Substitute checks were designed to function as an interim step to full-image presentment and receipt," according to Scott. "Ultimately, they negate many of the cost benefits gained from image exchange and Check 21 that were intended to completely eliminate paper from the system."
Viewpointe and its customers are working in tandem to help financial institutions get connected and to reap the benefits from full check electronification. Ultimately, they are supporting the industry-wide goal to eliminate substitute checks from the check clearing process.
Viewpointe customers openly share best practices for allowing full image exchange in the Viewpointe Users Group (VPUG). These financial institutions continue building exchange partnerships and linkages to new Viewpointe Pointe2Pointe users. Pointe2Pointe, Viewpointe's image exchange solution, can be implemented in as little as 30 to 60 days and does not require use of any Viewpointe's archive products. It simply enables any financial institution to safely send, receive and clear electronic check images with all of Viewpointe's customers who are dedicated to achieving full electronification of checks -- in addition to all financial institution endpoints throughout the U.S.
About Viewpointe
Viewpointe is a leading provider of check image and Check 21-related services to the nation's top financial institutions. Viewpointe operates the largest national archive of check images and information and is the only institution able to provide image exchange on demand through ImageShare and bank-to-bank image exchange through Pointe2Pointe. Viewpointe members include: BancorpSouth, Inc., Bank of America, BB&T, Compass, Endpoint Exchange, First Horizon National Corp., Fiserv, Inc, Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc., Harris Bank, HSBC Bank USA, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., National City Corporation, SunTrust Bank, Synovus Financial Corp., U.S. Bancorp, Wells Fargo and Zions Bancorporation. For more information about Viewpointe and its services, please visit www.viewpointe.com.
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