Some innovation is simply finding a new use for a long-standing technology or channel-not everything's necessarily brand new. For Compass Bank, finding a different way to use the Web to achieve faster check processing is bringing the hope of faster and more efficient mortgage transactions, in addition to helping speed other functions.
The $28.3 billion financial holding company, based in Birmingham, AL, is using its Web platform to offer clients the ability to print official Compass Bank checks, or what's commonly known as teller checks, at remote locations. The bank, which has almost 400 full-service banking centers in Texas, Alabama, Arizona, Florida and other states, isn't inventing the wheel, rolling out groundbreaking new technology or even responding to a sudden shift in the market or regulatory environment-but it is answering the call of a number of title agents.
"It's not so much that we acquired a different kind of technology, we were just answering a need that our marketplace was expressing," says Joan Baraba, evp of Compass' treasury management services. "We had a number of title companies in our market that told us they'd be happy if we could give them this kind of solution."
The bank is using the Web to deliver check issuance capability to companies that have a need to issue official bank checks on-demand. Called "Remote Check Print," it's an on-site check printing service with a fully automated funding process integrated with demand deposit accounts maintained at Compass Bank. Checks may be printed at the client's request at any time-day or night.
These firms will also have the ability to easily revise check amounts, if needed, by using the on-line void/delete and re-issue process. Other features include dual check authorization and the ability to assign different levels of security for check approval based on the needs of a particular company.
Requesters and approvers may be in different locations, cities or states, and clients will have the ability to expedite their research and reconciliation process by utilizing on-line item status searches, viewing images of previous checks paid and on-demand service reports.
"Many of our clients require the flexibility and convenience of printing good funds checks at their location doing hours when the bank may not be open, Baraba says, stressing the importance of making checks that need to be approved at the corporate headquarters available instantly at a remote locale.
One of the most immediate impacts should be in Compass' mortgage lending division, where title companies will have quick access to the variety of checks that are needed to close a mortgage. Shoring up holes in the automated mortgage chain is a long-term goal for all of the industry's participants, particularly since a prolonged lending and closing process exposes a mortgage loan to interest rate fluctuations, which can change either the cost of a mortgage or that mortgage's eventual value in the secondary market. This has led to a number of projects that automate smaller, clerical steps, be it a project in Minnesota to automate the transfer of notarized real estate documents at county offices or Compass' efforts to reduce the burden on title companies.
"It all comes down to time is money," says Sherrill Martinez, an accounting supervisor with Alamo Title Company. Alamo has adopted the product in part to reduce the large number of outstanding checks that need to be reconciled monthly and reported annually to the State (Texas) Comptroller's office. "It takes up to three months to complete this report. Right now our goal is to issue an official bank check for any check that is issued for less than $10. This will save the bookkeepers the time required to purchase official bank checks and save me the time in preparing the annual report for the State Comptroller's office as there will be less unclaimed funds to report."
As small as that $10 figure may seem, Baraba says there can be as many as a half dozen checks that size for a given mortgage closing, and having to report and reconcile that many small checks cries out for better automation. "This isn't something that's part of their core competency, and it isn't part of their business," she says.
