This new version includes expanded cross border capabilities, additional information delivery channels, enhanced reporting capabilities, and more entitlements for ACH, positive pay, and stop payments.

Significant features for Sarbanes-Oxley section 404 compliance that help financial institutions with SAS 70 Type II audit, auditing, entitlements and duty segregation, and report and transaction exports are also included in this release.

"P&H Web Cash Manager continues to lead the business banking marketplace with robust functionality, extreme flexibility, and ease-of-use," said Ralph Dangelmaier, President of P&H Solutions. "Our latest release includes comprehensive Sarbanes-Oxley functionality that will help banks comply with many of the specific requirements of these new regulations. In addition, Web Cash Manager version 7.2 allows institutions to expand their information delivery channels using unique "push" technology, delivers additional cross border capabilities, and adds more entitlements to our rich entitlement architecture. Once again we have proven that our best-of-breed approach clearly sets us apart from our competition."

P&H Web Cash Manager version 7.2 is available immediately.

Separately, The Electronic Payments Network (EPN), the ACH business of The Clearing House Payments Company, today announced that P&H Solutions will adopt the EPN STP 820 remittance standard in an upcoming release of its Web Cash Manager Suite to facilitate straight-through-processing for business-to-business payments.

"The EPN STP 820 standard will strengthen Web Cash Manager by making it easier for clients to initiate payments and leverage the tools in the industry's leading web-based banking system," said Terry Monteith, Senior Vice President, Products, of P&H Solutions. "The EPN STP 820 remittance standard advances the industry's strategic goal of straight-through-processing to increase business-to-business payments and reduce costs."

Web Cash Manager allows financial institutions of all sizes to package products and services for different markets or individual customers from a single platform. Financial institutions can choose from more than 75 modules that cater to both large and small clients. The P&H Web Cash Manager Suite also provides an infrastructure for integrating other products and services offered by financial institutions.

EPN STP 820 rationalizes the complexity of the ANSI 820 payment standard by defining the minimum required data elements to be included with the payment. EPN STP 820 specifies up to 10 required data elements, with two elements - customer name and customer account number - as mandatory. If invoices are used, there are eight additional fields such as invoice number, gross invoice amount, and amount paid to be included with the electronic payment for each invoice being paid. Developed from extensive research and work with industry groups, software providers, banks and businesses, the EPN STP 820 standard is approved by ASC X12 F and supported by NACHA and the Association of Financial Professionals (AFP).

"P&H's adoption of the EPN STP 820 standard will help more businesses initiate electronic payments and move away from checks," said Rossana Salaris, Senior Vice President of The Clearing House Payments Company, responsible for EPN. "EPN is committed to taking a leadership role in developing industry-wide solutions that make electronic payments as easy as writing a check."

The EPN STP 820 standard addresses one of the key obstacles in business-to-business payments: the lack of a single standard format for remittance information. The AFP Payments Advisory Group, which represents a broad cross-section of corporate treasury and finance professionals, has said the EPN STP 820 "appears to address key barriers to the efficient delivery of remittance information with electronic payments, if properly implemented."

A Federal Reserve study showed that of the 3.9 billion business-to-business remittance payments each year, only 14% are executed electronically. Of these electronic payments only 32% could be posted automatically. This standard will dramatically increase the automatic reconciliation of electronic payments.