Technological Benefits from Check 21

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Question:

What are some of the ways that the imaging technologies that are developing as a result of the Check 21 law will help us provide better customer service?

Answer:

Banks that have been using imaging archiving technology are already realizing the benefits of the improved retrieval capabilities that digitized image storage provides. Legible copies of checks, statements, and other documents can be located and retrieved within seconds from electronic storage "vaults" around the corner or thousands of miles away. That is much faster service than any paper or micrographics archive could possibly provide.

With the potential for checks being truncated at any point in the forward or return payment journey, it is conceivable that we may access other banks' archives to retrieve images, using a digital address.

Another example is sophisticated image reading technology that is already developed to compare a digitally encrypted watermark of sorts containing information about a check's original amount, payee and signature to information read in the image of the check to provide self-contained "positive pay" verification. It's a sort of portable fraud detector.

First published on BankersOnline.com 10/25/04