Remote Deposit Capture: Implementation Grows Each Year

Remote deposit capture continues to gain in popularity among financial institutions as one of imaging's latest success stories. Industry sources expect demand for this service to pick up noticeably within the next two years, as more financial professionals implement the technology.

For organizations that were early adopters of remote deposit, results have been encouraging. Users report to have experienced more rapid settlement, easier entry into new markets, increased account acquisition and retention, heightened operational efficiencies, reduced costs associated with servicing large depositors, reduced deposit errors, and extended deposit deadlines.

Robert Hunt, a senior analyst at the market research firm TowerGroup, a MasterCard International unit, believes that remote capture was a good strategic first step for these financial institutions and that the business opportunities it afforded should continue to grow.

"The low-hanging fruit was there," Hunt said. "The early adopters tended to be corporations trying to do collection on checks faster or get cash from a bunch of retail locations on a single account," he said. "I think there's a whole second wave," Hunt said. "The newcomers are motivated not by float or cash concentration, but by convenience," he said. "Now it's become a product for small business."

Another industry source, Steve M. Ellis, an executive vice president at Wells Fargo & Co. and the head of its wholesale services, said faster settlement is especially useful to West Coast banks that must work against time zones to clear checks with trading partners in the East. For example, Wells' daily deposit cutoff was previously 2 p.m. eastern standard time. Now it offers remote-capture customers a 10 p.m. deadline, which "is a big deal," Ellis said. "I'm not sure everybody gets that yet."

—Quoted material excerpted from Dec. 22, 2005 article by Steve Bills, American Banker

Your total remote deposit capture solution

Open Solutions electronic deposit solutions are designed to save you and corporate clients money, speed processing and contribute to earnings. With ISeDeposit there's no need for your corporate and commercial customers to bundle and transport checks or make daily deposit runs. We can show you how to increase your financial institution's non-interest income, retain and attract clients, and overcome the geographic limitations of your branch network.