ARLINGTON, VA — A combination of expense and a lack of governmental mandate will mean that consumer desire will likely be the final arbiter of whether and when a majority of deposit taking ATMs in the US image their check deposits.

"The infrastructure for image check transfer and acceptance between institutions is up and running," explained Jim Hanisch, executive vice president with CO-OP Financial Services and one of the key executives responsible for working out the networking and technical issues around check imaging. " But there isn't any real mandate to do it or to take it to the consumer level."

"I think one factor [behind the relatively slow uptake of the technology] is definitely the cost of upgrading existing machines" said Mark Smith, a senior manager with Triton Systems, a firm that claims to be the last domestic ATM manufacturer in the nation and is a leading manufacturer of lower cost ATMs. "But another is that there really aren't lots of consumers demanding that they be able to start imaging checks at ATMs."