PLANO, Texas — Southwest Corporate reported tremendous growth it its remote deposit services during 2008. The number of credit unions participating grew 57% as 160 new credit unions joined the program, elevating the year-end total to 442.
Over the same time frame, 698 credit union branches signed on to the program, raising the total number of branches using Southwest Corporate's remote deposit services at year end to 1,773. The corporate expanded its remote deposit services to six additional states in 2008, and is currently available in 31 states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.
Brad Ganey, vice president of item processing for Southwest Corporate, told Credit Union Journal the biggest positive over the past two years has been a "constant surge in all things remote deposit related."
"It means different things to different people, but we've seen a lot of movement in branch capture and teller capture," he reported.
Credit unions at the branch level are taking advantage of Check 21 laws, Ganey continued. He said the Check 21 law was the first step to credit unions putting check capture solutions in their branches.
Once electronic check capture is in place, there is a significant boost to operational and internal efficiency. Ganey said it cuts down on courier costs, double-handling and other costs related to items coming into CU branches.
Next came a push to determine how far the technology could extend efficiency and cost savings - as close to the point of presentation as possible. In other words: offering the service to businesses.
"Merchants have a lot of check volume, so it helps them by not having to take deposits to their branches," said Ganey. "This was a nice transition by making merchants happy and adding convenience for them, but it also inadvertently helps credit union members because they aren't waiting in a teller line behind someone depositing 100 checks."
Southwest Corporate continues to see "big growth" in merchant capture, he said. Although banks have been offering business services much longer than credit unions, Ganey said he anticipates seeing more growth for credit unions this year as they "get their arms around the suite of services available."
"Credit unions are getting the technology deployed and getting their ducks in a row as they prepare to offer those services to their business members," he asserted.
The hottest trend in remote deposit capture, according to, is member capture-image capture from home. In 2009, he expects to see CUs "grabbing onto this concept because it makes so much sense for them."
Community banks also will get into the home deposit area as it becomes a commodity, Ganey warned.
"With all the things consumers do online, it makes sense to give people the convenience to scan a check from home," he assessed. "It makes a lot of sense for credit unions because of the savings in teller costs by reducing branch traffic in a positive way. Credit unions are never going to compare to large banks in terms of physical footprint-they are never going to have branches on every corner like the large banks. So what is better than that is if credit unions can come right into the member's living room?"
The ability to make deposits from home is especially important for military CUs, Ganey continued. He said with this technology, members would not have to leave their credit union just because they are deployed to a different area.
"It doesn't have to be that exaggerated; for non-military families, moving can make their credit union inconvenient to them. With all the stuff that is going on, and despite all the turmoil in the industry, financial institutions still have to provide service to their customers and members."
