SVPCO-Electronic Clearing Services, the electronic check and check image exchange business of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C., today reported that the Image Payments Network completed its first full year of production with record check image volume in December 2005.
The Image Payments Network is the nation's private-sector volume leader in image payments by dollar value and total number of items, according to publicly available information.
For December, SVPCO reported the following data for the Image Payments Network:
- $3.5 billion in daily average dollar value, an increase of 14 percent compared to November 2005
- $73 billion in total monthly dollar value, an increase of 20 percent compared to November 2005
- 555,446 in daily average items, an increase of 27 percent compared to November 2005
- 11.7 million in total monthly items, an increase of 33 percent compared to November 2005
- The peak day of the month was Dec. 27, when 929,409 items transmitted
- Ten banks were exchanging images, in addition to significant volume being exchanged through the network's connection to the Federal Reserve and EDS.
"Volume in the Image Payments Network grew substantially again last month and is likely to grow at a similar or higher rate in 2006," said George Thomas, Executive Vice President of The Clearing House. "After the first full year of production, the Image Payments Network is gaining momentum as financial institutions recognize its enormous potential to reduce costs and increase efficiency by settling images within a single, integrated system that is also connected to the Federal Reserve."
In January 2005, when the Image Payments Network began operations, daily average dollar value was $2.6 million, total monthly dollar value was $55 million, daily average items were 850, and total monthly items were 18,000.
Two banks were exchanging images through the Image Payments Network in January 2005.
Susan Long, Senior Vice President of The Clearing House, responsible for SVPCO-Electronic Clearing Services said, "In December, the Image Payments Network experienced its 12th straight month of record volume. The increases were due to new institutions participating in the network, as well as existing financial institutions directing more volume through the Image Payments Network. We urge institutions of all sizes to participate in Image Payments Network and share the benefits of reduced risk and expedited exchange and settlement that are unique to the network. As more financial institutions participate in image exchange, the benefits to all grow exponentially."