Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF), a Fortune 500 provider of products and outsourced services and solutions to financial institutions and the real estate industry, and its Fidelity Information Services (Fidelity) division announced today that Fidelity's ImageCentre and Voyager check imaging solutions are now transmitting daily image cash letters to the Federal Reserve Banks.
Fidelity's client, Diverse Computer Marketers, Inc. (DCM), is one of the first companies in the nation to successfully complete the implementation process for depositing image cash letters. This accomplishment paves the way for other Fidelity clients to begin the transition from paper to electronic payments and benefit from the efficiencies afforded by the passage of the Check 21 Act.
DCM, a Lansing MI-based outsourcing provider, leverages ImageCentre to service more than 40 financial institutions in the upper Midwest. Beginning immediately, outgoing image cash letters are being created using Voyager and transmitted daily to the Federal Reserve Banks' FedForward image cash letter deposit service for presentment to paying banks as images or substitute checks.
"The advanced technology built into ImageCentre and Voyager allows us to help our clients clear dollars faster, reduce transportation costs and streamline backroom operations," said Edward Chan, vice president of DCM. "Factoring in reductions in courier costs and item clearing expenses, our first image exchange for a bank client resulted in a 70 percent reduction in item clearing and settlement costs. It is simply more efficient and economical to send images in lieu of the physical items."
ImageCentre and Voyager were developed by BankWare, a provider of check and remittance imaging solutions that was acquired by Fidelity in April 2004. The ImageCentre suite provides financial institutions with a completely browser-based payment processing, document management and fraud detection solution. Voyager enables client financial institutions to exchange check images with image exchange networks, correspondent banks and other financial institutions.
"This announcement is the culmination of the combined efforts of the Federal Reserve Banks, DCM and Fidelity's BankWare team after the completion of a comprehensive testing and implementation process," said Bob Darty, group executive for Fidelity's Integrated Financial Solutions division. "The passage of Check 21 - and the promise of electronic image exchange - is rapidly changing the process by which checks are delivered, cleared and settled. Our advanced and proven image-based solutions provide financial institutions with the technology and flexibility necessary to build a strong business case that justifies the transition to electronic payments."