Fed Inks Check 21 Pact With ViewpointeExchange

WASHINGTON - (05/22/06) – The Federal Reserve said Fridayit has entered into a contract with Viewpointe to provide it withimage exchange services for the 12 Federal Reserve banks, thenation’s largest processors of interbank check payments. Thedeal will allow Viewpointe’s bank and credit union customersto send and receive check images with any financial institution inthe country. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.Viewpointe, one of four major check exchange networks, is owned byBank of America, JP Morgan Chase, SunTrust Banks, U.S. Bancorp andIBM Corp. Separately, SVPCO-Electronic Clearings Services, one ofthe competing check exchange networks, reported its average numberof daily items exchanged grew to 1.7 million in April as 12 majorbanks are now participating in what was created from aconglomeration of regional check exchanges. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Bancorp are also among the 21 banks that ownSVPCO. The other competitors are Metavante’s EndpointExchange Network and Fiserv Clearing Network.