Open Solutions is a provider of integrated enabling technologies for financial institutions in the United States, Canada and internationally.

IBB will offer the new image exchange solution to their current customer base of more than 250 respondent banks in the Southeast U.S. IBB believes that as a result of selecting Open Solutions, its customers will enjoy lower clearing costs, better availability of funds and expert settlement services. In addition, these same services may be extended to the commercial customers of IBB's respondent banks.

Open Solutions will perform IBB's aggregation and electronic clearing operations through its item processing center in Windsor Locks, Conn. In addition to the center in Windsor Locks, Open Solutions also operates regional item processing centers in Murrieta, Calif., El Monte, Calif. and San Leandro, Calif., and they have the capability to electronically process images for all 50 states.

IBB has purchased the following modules: ISArchive, which allows a financial institution to maintain an archival database of captured images; ISeDeposit, a solution for point-of-presentation electronic deposits; and ISNetwork, a browser-based internal delivery of image processing information. As a result, they will be able to offer their respondent banks IP Cash Letter services, which will be fulfilled by Open Solutions and IBB.

"Our customers wanted the ability to exchange image cash letters," said Diane Blangsted, senior vice president of Operations and Technology, "and Open Solutions had the most advanced product offering to compile and clear them in the most efficient way. Our longstanding relationship with Open Solutions as our core platform provider played a key role in selecting the company for this initiative, but the most important factor was that Open Solutions could supply the software to aggregate and archive the images we received, as well as function as our back office. They were the only provider with solutions that could meet the needs of our process; the other vendors needed us to alter our processes to fit their solutions."

"At Open Solutions we are focused on providing our clients with the flexibility to implement an entire solution in-house or outsource the whole operation to one of our processing centers," Mark Ryan, vice president and general manager, Open Solutions Imaged Payment Technologies, said. "We also offer a blended solution for institutions looking to implement certain modules in-house while outsourcing those that don't fit within their primary competencies. IBB's strategy positions them perfectly to offer their correspondent banks the option to outsource merchant capture capabilities in the future. Our goal is to offer clients solutions that meet their needs today, as well as the flexibility to shift as those needs change."

"Image exchange is more than just sending and receiving images," Blangsted said. "Our customers were looking for an image check clearing solution that offered the best functionality and the most strategic processing possible. The Open Solutions team gave us the best option for keeping up with the pace of the industry as it moves toward electronic check clearing. This move is mission critical for our customers if they're going to remain competitive."

Louis Hernandez, Jr., Open Solutions chairman and CEO, said, "Whenever a current client expands our relationship and entrusts us with an even larger role in their technology strategy, it's a great honor. Excellent product offerings and impeccable service are even more critical for organizations like IBB and Open Solutions, as we share a similar responsibility of having financial institutions as customers. Open Solutions continually strives to offer innovative technology platforms and systems designed to enable financial institutions to thrive in their markets and to boldly enter new ones."