Headlines:
Sovereign Offering Free EBPP Service E-Trade Tests Check Imaging Application Comerica to Use More of TouchPoint Chordiant Develops Teller CRM System Diebold ATMs to Use Carreker Software NetDeposit to Test Branch Imaging
Sovereign Offering Free EBPP Service
Sovereign Bancorp Inc. is one of the latest banking companies to start offering its online bill payment service for free.
The Philadelphia company said Monday that it has used CheckFree Corp. software to update its bill payment capabilities. For example, it now has a consolidated home page that includes a list of pending and past payments, and it offers same- or next-day settlement for some billers.
"This service is backed by security and privacy protections, as well as a guarantee to protect against liability and fraud," Marianne Doran-Collins, a senior vice president at Sovereign, said in a press release.
Forty-six percent of consumers who do not use bill pay cite security concerns, while 43% say privacy is an issue, according to Forrester Research Inc. of Cambridge, Mass.
CheckFree said Sovereign is one of the first banking companies to implement the latest version of the Atlanta vendor's CheckFree Web software.
E-Trade Tests Check Imaging Application
E-Trade Financial Corp. said Wednesday that it will pilot test a remote capture deposit application that uses check imaging software from Alogent Corp. of Alpharetta, Ga.
The New York financial services company will use the software to let customers convert paper checks into digital images at their sites and transmit the files to E-Trade Bank for deposit.
Remote capture technology has become one of the early winners in the race to implement imaging systems; several banks announced similar services after the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act took effect last month.
Vendors say the service is particularly suited for Internet banks because they lack branches at which customers can make deposits.
Another branchless banking company, NetBank Inc. of Alpharetta, is using Alogent software for the same application. NetBank provides the scanners to its small-business customers, who would otherwise have to wait days for deposits to travel to the bank through the mail.
Alogent also announced Wednesday that it will integrate its software into Siebel Systems Inc.'s Siebel Branch Teller product. The integration will let the San Mateo, Calif., company's bank customers convert checks into images at teller stations.
Comerica to Use More of TouchPoint
Comerica Inc. has agreed to use more of Fidelity National Financial Inc.'s TouchPoint software to manage customer relationships.
Fidelity National, of Jacksonville, Fla., said Monday that the Detroit banking company has licensed its sales, service, and account-opening modules to capitalize on cross-selling opportunities and to improve customer service.
New modules will be installed by the second quarter on the desktop computers of 70% of the Comerica employees who deal with customers, Fidelity National said.
Comerica has used the TouchPoint referral module since 2002 to make and track referrals for products across its lines of business.
Chordiant Develops Teller CRM System
Chordiant Software Inc., a Cupertino, Calif., maker of call center and branch automation systems, has developed a teller system with features to help manage customer relationships and business processes.
The new system will be commercially available in the United States in the second half of next year. It was designed to work with Chordiant's other products, as well as those of other vendors, said Mary Pilecki, the system's principal product manager.
The system is being pitched to the U.S. banking market this week at the Bank Administration Institute's Retail Delivery conference in Las Vegas.
Ms. Pilecki said in an interview last week that Chordiant is working with Banco Santander Central Hispano SA, Spain's largest banking company, to prepare for a European rollout scheduled for the first quarter.
Santander did "a lot of the proving work for us," she said.
The system gives tellers customized up-selling or cross-selling prompts, and it can send a sales referral from the teller to a service representative in the branch, Ms. Pilecki said. It includes business-process management features, and it can cut off sales prompts when branch traffic is heavy and the emphasis is on getting customers through the teller line as quickly as possible, she said.
Though it is designed to run on a central computer network, the system also can run on a branch-based server, she said. "However it makes them comfortable, we can support it, because it is a component-based system."
Diebold ATMs to Use Carreker Software
Diebold Inc. said Tuesday that it would incorporate imaging software from the technology vendor Carreker Corp. into its high-end Opteva line of automated teller machines.
Banks that are implementing image capabilities are increasingly interested in converting paper checks into digital images as early in the item processing stream as possible, and are starting to use ATMs that can accept checks and immediately create image files.
The North Canton, Ohio, vendor plans to use Carreker's image quality software, which is designed to make sure that the images generated by ATMs are readable. The company announced the agreement at the BAI Retail Delivery conference in Las Vegas. Carreker is based in Dallas.
"More than ever before, Diebold's banking customers demand deposit automation," said David Bucci, a senior vice president, in a press release.
NetDeposit to Test Branch Imaging
NetDeposit Inc. announced Wednesday that it will test branch-capture software for check images next year at its parent company, Zions Bancorp.
NetDeposit, which, like Zions, has its headquarters in Salt Lake City, said it will use its NetCapture Branch software in a pilot program at Zions First National Bank or at one or more of the parent's other banks.
Zions owns and operates six commercial banks with more than 400 branches in eight western states.
The product, which can capture images at the teller line or in the back office, is designed to be used by tellers and support staff, NetDeposit said. It can also help the bank operations staff prepare transactions for clearing.
NetDeposit is promoting the product at the BAI Retail Delivery conference in Las Vegas. Earlier at the conference, NetDeposit said it would work with the Brookfield, Wis., technology company Fiserv Inc. to route and print check images for financial institutions.
