Yesterday our Deposit Ops area attended a presentation from EPCOR, where the regional representative told those in attendance that, whatever the situation, an institution must have the physical check to receive payment. This flies in the face of my understanding of the indemnification warranties in effect in July. Who's off base on this issue?

Prior to Check 21, that was largely true.

I've been quoted as saying things that I would not have said at gunpoint. Call the person and ask for a clarification.

Thanks, Ken. Our Deposit Ops manager did as you suggested, and most of the confusion was cleared up. She has since presented me with this information:

"We have experienced paying banks that have sent us the adjustment for not securing the physical check (which, of course you cannot with a mobile deposit). This accounts for most of the loss we’ve taken thus far. In this case, even under the new rules, since we took the mobile (no matter how it is endorsed) and we don’t have the physical check, we would take the loss. The new rules only speak to the ‘depositary bank that receives a deposit of an original paper check’ being indemnified against loss."

Is that accurate?

Perhaps you could provide a couple of hypothetical examples of what you are concerned about to help us understand what the perceived problem is.