Advanced Financial Solutions (AFS), a Metavante company, today announced that Sky Bank, the wholly owned subsidiary of Sky Financial Group, Inc. (NasdaqNM:SKYF), has selected AFS ImageVision as its check imaging solution.
With assets totaling $15 billion, Sky Financial Group is a diversified financial holding company based in Ohio.
Sky Bank will use the AFS ImageVision enterprise-wide platform to consolidate its item processing, retail lockbox, and wholesale lockbox applications. In addition, Sky Bank will now have one image-enabled system integrating all its payment processing data into a single, easy-to-access information silo.
"The AFS ImageVision platform unites all processes and systems under one common infrastructure, providing a fully integrated and seamless approach to image-enabled payment processing," said Les Starr, executive vice president of operations and information technology, Sky Bank. "AFS ImageVision brings all the pieces of the puzzle together and gives us the flexibility to expand our system and add new applications as future needs dictate."
AFS ImageVision payment processing suite provides Sky Bank with services such as: proof-of-deposit, reject repair, online check research, image statements, and integrated wholesale and retail lockbox processing. Additionally, Sky Bank is deploying two Check 21 solutions, AFS Return 21 and Forward 21, enabling banks to produce Image Replacement Documents (IRDs) or "substitute checks" for returns and forward presentment. IRDs allow banks to truncate 100 percent of transit items and reduce the number of physical items by sorting them electronically and printing IRDs for the returned items.
"IRDs represent an entirely new type of negotiable instrument that financial institutions, like Sky Bank, must be prepared to handle," said Gary Nelson, president, AFS. "AFS Return 21 and Forward 21 provides Sky Bank with a flexible platform to support an evolving Check 21 strategy toward full truncation and check image exchange. AFS clearly understands the business challenges of electronic payments in a post-Check 21 processing environment."
AFS ImageVision provides financial institutions with the technology to deliver new value-added services as well as quantified cost savings. Continued Nelson, "Our solution provides Sky with the foundation to offer new revenue-producing opportunities, like capturing images of check deposits, directly from corporate depositors and merchant sites. Sky is now equipped to manage transit items and identify the optimum clearing options for every payment, resulting in reduced float and transportation costs through remote IRD print."