Bank of America has begun the national roll-out of technology which enables online banking customers to view and print images of their cancelled cheques and deposit slips rather than waiting days for copies through the mail.
The new system, which has been initially rolled out to online customers in Georgia and Tennessee will be made available around the country through March 2003.
Registered users of the bank's online banking service will be able to call up copies of the front and back of cheques or deposit slips that have cleared within the past 45 business days.
"This is another example of how our technology is helping customers take care of their finances in fast, easy ways," says John Rosenfeld, executive for consumer and small business e-commerce. "Customers can get information at any time that's convenient for them. They get it within seconds rather than days."
He adds that tellers may also use the technology to prevent fraud, by providing a mechanism for immediate online visual verification of signatures on cancelled cheques.
Bank of America - the largest commercial cheque processor in the country - already has installed imaging technology in its call centres and banking centres around the country.
The new digital cheque imaging service is made possible with 169 high-speed, digital cameras at 22 cheque processing sites around the country. The cameras take electronic pictures of more than 40 million cheques and deposit slips a day.
The images are stored at Viewpointe Archive Services, which was formed by Bank of America, IBM and other financial institutions in 2000. Viewpointe provides digital images of cheques and deposit slips to consumers. It also facilitates the exchange of cheque images among banks.