Then There's the Miscellaneous Cost Savings ...
While Check 21 has presented the banking industry a number of ways to save money, including cutting down on the time it takes to process a check, savings on paper costs and on processing time, a remote community bank in Kansas is experiencing an extra benefit: savings on the costs of messengers.
First National Bank, Elkhart, KS is so far away from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, MO that it could not get its daily work there easily. As a result, the bank at one time was paying $1,200 per month for courier service to ferry its daily cash letter 418 miles to that reserve bank. It was also closing deposit-taking at 1 p.m. to allow time for the long transit. As part of the courier contract, it was using a data processor 240 miles away from the bank.
After implementing automated services for data and check processing, including converting to image capture and transfer, the bank was able to change its cut-off deposit time to banking hours and get rid of the courier contract altogether. Instead, transactions are fully electronic and the bank provides image replacement documents to the Fed. According to Fiserv, which provides the entire processing solution, the bank is the first to use its end-to-end electronic branch capture system.
Copyright © 2005 Bankers' Hotline. Originally appeared in Bankers' Hotline, Vol. 15, No. 4, 5/05
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