Headlines:
JPM Adds ARC to Imaging Service Carreker in Pact with ID Analytics Remote Capture from US Dataworks Fidelity National to Resell for Cedar
JPM Adds ARC to Imaging Service
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has added an accounts receivable conversion feature to its remote check-imaging service.
The New York banking company, the largest originator of automated clearing house payments, said Monday it now lets business customers scan checks for conversion to electronic payments. Most banks that offer remote capture do so only for transmission as checks.
JPMorgan Chase said the new feature, ACH Distributed Payment Capture allows for faster deposits and no reliance on branch locations, as payments can be deposited electronically using a scanner hooked up to the business owner's computer.
The check details are read and sent electronically as ARC or point of presentment ACH transactions. If a check cannot be converted - business checks, for example, are ineligible for ARC treatment - it is processed as a paper item. The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, which went into effect at the end of October, allows for check images and substitute check printouts to be treated as the legal equivalent of the original.
"Convergence of payment channels driven by Check 21 and the increased usage of check conversion applications marks the critical need for" a converged service for check processing, Alan Koenigsberg, a vice president for JPMorgan Chase Treasury Services, said in a press release.
Carreker in Pact with ID Analytics
Carreker Corp. of Dallas and ID Analytics Inc. of San Diego plan to co-market their deposit fraud and identity fraud detection products.
Carreker said Monday that it would incorporate ID Analytics' Identity Risk Management products, which analyze fraud risk by examining customer data from many sources, into its own fraud detection products, which focus on deposit accounts.
John D. "Denny" Carreker, the chairman and chief executive of Carreker, said in a press release that identity fraud detection is the next logical move for his company after addressing risk and fraud in deposit accounts.
Though existing deposit accounts can used in identity theft, the most damaging and extensive cases involve account openings. Consumers can see evidence of theft on their monthly statements (or sooner if they use phone and Internet banking) but often do not know about an account opened in their name until they are turned down for credit or get calls from collectors.
When accounts are opened, ID Analytics' customer banks get a fraud risk score based on information about the applicant provided by public databases and other subscribers. Increasing the number of subscribing institutions would expand the pool of information available to use in calculating this risk score.
"This combined solution will leverage our relationships with scores of banks, building on the protection we already extend to more than 70% of the checks written in the U.S.," Mr. Carreker said.
Remote Capture from US Dataworks
US Dataworks Inc. announced Monday that it has added a remote-capture capability to its Clearingworks electronic payment processing software.
The new feature, Distributive Capture, lets customers send check images to a central location over the Internet before they are processed.
The software is designed to be used from multiple locations; US Dataworks does not charge for additional remote capture locations. Customers pay a fee for each item scanned.
US Dataworks says it is demonstrating its new version of the software at the Payments 2005 conference sponsored by Nacha, the electronic payments association, this week in San Antonio.
Fidelity National to Resell for Cedar
Fidelity National Financial Inc. of Jacksonville, Fla., said its technology unit will resell electronic statement and bill presentment products from Cedar Document Technologies Inc. of Atlanta.
Fidelity Information Services Inc. is touting to its customer banks the savings available by offering electronic statements instead of paper. It announced the deal with Cedar on Friday. Banks and credit unions say it costs between 53 cents and a dollar to mail a paper statement. Beth Robertson, a senior analyst at MasterCard International's TowerGroup Inc. in Needham, Mass., says similar costs apply to the auto loan business, which Fidelity Information targeted in its last reselling deal.
On March 3 the unit announced that it would co-market several electronic bill pay products developed by PhoneCharge Inc. of Ansonia, Conn. It said it would offer the products to its automotive finance customers.
Ms. Robertson said it would be a good idea for Fidelity Information to keep marketing billing products to its loan servicing customers.
Auto loan billing is "usually one of the more important billing relationships that a consumer has," Ms. Robertson said. Customers would like having the relationship online in order to both receive and pay their bills faster, she said.
Cedar's software encrypts electronic statements and transmits them by e-mail. A customer on the receiving end needs a password to read the statement. The e-statement can include marketing materials similar to those sent in paper statements, Fidelity National said in a press release.
