Remote Capture: Transiting the Final Frontier in Check Processing?

There’s no doubt that passage of the Check 21 Act opened the way for financial institutions to capitalize on exciting developments on the check-imaging frontier: remote deposit capture, or RDC, in all its many forms. By the end of 2005, a little more than a year after Check 21 was enacted, fewer than 4% of U.S. banks were making use of branch-capture technology. Yet by March 2007, more than a third of all financial institutions–some 3,000 of them–were using RDC. And a study by research and consulting firm Celent shows that number climbing to half of the nation’s FIs by year-end. Indeed, adoption of RDC is occurring even faster than what Celent terms the “Internet banking gold rush.”

In just two years, branch capture has begun providing many institutions with faster funds availability, significant transportation cost reductions, and improved back-office efficiencies. For many financial institutions, ATMs and kiosks have become an extension of their branch networks. With image scanning technology, they are poised to become a logical extension of their branch capture strategies, as well. But is it the end of the trail?