ABA Banking Journal - April 2007 - (Page 28)
Community Banking Exhibit 6 Long term, what are your expectations for remote capture profitability? Exhibit 7 Has your bank experienced any remote capture fraud? It will be a profitable service on its own. 30.8% Not sure 15.4% No 100% It will be a customer relationship tool, not profitable on its own. 53.8% cant concern among many bankers weighing the remote capture decision. Exhibit 8, p. 30, illustrates the conservative approach taken by many banks, and the practices some use at the front end to address this risk. Exhibit 9, p. 30, indicates that some are looking for additional protection from insurance. The companion article to this article, at www.ababj.com, “Watching out for “Bob’s Pizza” and other traps: Avoiding the risks of remote capture,” looks at the issue of fraud as the service is currently offered, and in the light of the March 16 effective date of back-office conversion rules. While the companion article gets into many more specifics and preventative measures, one reason why fraud hasn’t been much of an issue comes down to the remote capture universe at community banks. “These are the best companies, today,” that banks hook up with for remote capture, says Jerry Federico, “so fraud hasn’t come into play, yet.” Federico is national sales manager in the ProfitStars division of Jack Henry & Associates. Deposit service or cash management tool? Many community banks, reflecting the funding issues that they face, have seen remote capture service as a way of getting more low-cost, noninterest-bearing business deposits in the door. However, as mentioned earlier, some banks see remote capture not so much as a deposit-gathering mechanism/relationship builder, as a 28 APRIL 2007/ABA BANKING JOURNAL tool in the cash management toolbox that they can offer to their business customers. That is, remote capture represents a value-added relationship, because it can turn checks into bank balances more quickly than traditional business banking methods. Systems that permit customers to not only image checks, but alternatively turn them into ACH items, also make remote capture attractive in a cash management vein. This appeal may be accentuated as community banks adopt back-office conversion for their customers who want to capture at the point of sale. (Input from the vendor community suggests community banks aren’t jumping right onto the new rule.) An example of the cash management school can be seen at Herndon, Va.’s MainStreet Bank, a de novo launched in mid-2004, President and CEO Jeff Dick saw the appeal of remote capture early on, and the bank unveiled its service in latter 2005. By the middle of 2006, Dick had hired an experienced treasury services expert to run its remote capture and other treasury management services area. Today, the sales staff consists of eight bankers, says Dick, and the bank’s results speak volumes, literally. In mid-March, it had built up to 265 relationships, with 436 accounts, averaging $77,800 per account, for a total of $34 million in deposits. The bank has 125 scanners deployed. In Abilene, Texas, Ron Butler’s $900 million-assets First Financial Bank, part vent of voice mail, followed by e-mail, I quickly got to the point where I handled my own messages and correspondence. Once Outlook Express became my system of record for contacts, appointments, and “To Do’s” there was very little left for someone else to do. While my filing system would benefit from professional help, that is hardly enough to justify having an assistant. When I have correspondence (real mail) to send I e-mail the document to one of our Loan Department staffers, who prints it on letterhead and prepares an envelope or mailing label. In general, this approach works well. I can access our voice mail and e-mail systems from anywhere, so keeping up with messages is easy. In most cases messages are responded to within a business day. I don’t use a Blackberry because cell phone service in Vermont is spotty. Remedy 2 Blair A. Hillyer, president and CEO, First National Bank, $162 million assets, Dennison, Ohio. My administrative assistant does many jobs. She prepares some board reports, handles the telephone, keeps track of my meetings, reminds me of deadlines that I have forgotten, fixes my computer problems, and acts in my behalf when I am unavailable, especially with important customers and vendors. She truly represents me for much of the day, especially when I am out of the bank. My assistant also serves as a very important sounding board for my new ideas, thoughts, etc. She gives me an objective “take” on what the other employees or customers might think of the idea. I couldn’t live without her! Remedy 3 Larry J. Callais, president and CEO, MC Bank & Trust Co., $230 million assets, Morgan City, La. Technology has really improved the role of an assistant. The best thing that has happened is that whenever I am away and wherever I
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.