Remote deposit capture (RDC) has been deemed “the most important development the (U.S.) banking industry has seen in years” by the Federal Reserve. In a recent post we explored some scenarios when business should consider using RDC, the areas of business impact, the cost of and the risk implications of implementing RDC.
In this post, we will cover the practical implications of implementing remote deposit capture within your systems. What types of questions should you ask in order to create the appropriate business and support technical processes?
The first important question to ask your bank is about the scanning and encoding process. Do I have any control over the encoding information on the check? Am I able to add any additional information that I could receive back on my statements? It is important to understand how to manage this, especially in cases where the RDC tool doesn’t properly capture all information, or completely misses some information.
Next, understand where you will see remote deposit capture information. Will this information flow through any of your existing receivables processes, or will it be deposited on your main operational bank account? Where you receive the data will affect the supporting processes you need to design for your Treasury management system.
If the captured information flows through to your existing receivables processes, this can be streamlined and applied along with other checks received. This could potentially be processed into an existing lockbox file.
However, if the information is received on your operational account, it may be mixed in with other ACH receipts, outgoing ACH payments, etc. In this case it is important to ask
the following additional questions:
- How will this come through on my account? If you are using BAI2 for bank statements- does it have its own BAI code to identify the activity?
- What type of text information will be passed to me on my bank statement? Does your bank simply give generic text indicating “Remote Deposit” and an amount, or will you get further identifying details so that you can automate postings?
The information you receive from the answers to these questions will help you design your supporting business process in your systems. Good luck and let me know how your implementation is progressing.
