JPMorgan Chase, a full-service provider of cash management, trade finance, and treasury solutions, announced today that global financial institutions will be able to benefit from its suite of innovative imaging applications, which include International Image Deposit Capture, Image Deposit Direct and Image Cash Letter.
Electronic files with check images will replace the physical transportation of paper checks, saving time, reducing costs and streamlining the receivables process.
International Image Deposit Capture capabilities will be available initially at six JPMorgan Chase hub sites. A site in Frankfurt, Germany opened on September 2, 2005. Sites will open before the end of the year in Bournemouth, England and Zurich, Switzerland. Three additional sites will open in early 2006.
International clients can continue to prepare their US dollar check deposits as usual and deliver the items by courier to a JPMorgan Chase hub site where they will be scanned, then transmitted to New York for clearing. These hub sites will also store the original checks for a pre-determined period of time.
Clients can also take advantage of Image Deposit Direct, a front-end, image capture desktop option that includes PC-based software and compact check scanner equipment for onsite check imaging and electronic deposit. In addition, Image Cash Letter capabilities will be available in 2006, allowing clients with their own equipment to scan checks and transmit records directly to JPMorgan Chase facilities in New York for clearing.
"When Check 21 became a reality last year, it paved the way for organizations around the world to exchange images of US dollar checks," stated Lisa Robins, senior vice president and global head of check deposit services for the Treasury Services unit of JPMorgan Chase. "JPMorgan Chase has taken a leadership role in this movement toward electronification. We are one of the first financial institutions to provide image deposit capture capabilities in our overseas branches, which eliminates the need for clients to make additional investment or changes to their existing internal check operations."
International Image Deposit Capture is scaleable and can be implemented at one or multiple JPMorgan Chase locations where checks are received. Because images from original paper checks are captured in the region where they are collected, costs are reduced, while the risk of transporting paper items cross-border is greatly diminished.
With a global presence in 35 countries, JPMorgan Chase plans to expand its Image Deposit Capture capabilities to additional European and Asian cities in 2006. "As the nation's second-largest check processor and the largest US dollar clearer in the world, JPMorgan Chase has the scale and efficiencies to allow banks to leverage our leading capabilities to keep their costs down," added Robins. "Even though full image exchange is still years away, solutions such as our Image Deposit Capture are an important advancement on the continuum toward the electronification of checks. Once image capture and exchange become the norm, checks will clear much more quickly and will no longer require manual handling and intervention, which will result in improved availability of funds and accelerated returned item processing."
