Remote Deposit Gaining Momentum in Ft. Worth: Trinity Bank
Trinity Bank of Fort Worth, TX introduced Fidelity's remote deposit capture product, Commercial Capture Xpress, to their market in March 2006. Richard Burt, EVP reports that it took approximately 60 days to go live with the product. Today the bank has 20 customers using the product.
Of Trinity's fourteen total employees, six people sell the product; this includes all five officers of the bank and the New Accounts representative. Trinity focuses on commercial customers and prides itself on being a "high touch" bank so they distinguish themselves by going onsite to install the product, and then they go back a second time when the customer gets their first check to ensure they are comfortable with the entire process of scanning and sending the file.
Three people in Operations actually implement and train the customers and are responsible for deploying and maintaining the scanners. They have one customer with a high volume of checks that is using the multi-item scanner. So far the bank has had no major scanner issues or image quality issues. It seems their lower check volume customers run into more scanner maintenance issues simply because cleaning the scanner is not a major focus for them.
In relation to migrating to full image exchange, Trinity is sending image cash letters but they are not yet receiving image cash letters because currently the Federal Reserve can't get them to the bank early enough for their customers. They will implement with the Fed once they improve their delivery time.
The bank has not encountered any fraud issues at this point most likely due to their "cautious aggressive" approach. Each new remote depost capture customer has to be approved by their account officer who also sets file and check limits. The Commercial Capture Xpress product enables the bank to set the limits on the customer's end to stop files and checks that exceed the limits. The bank monitors incoming files especially those of new customers, and they review all limits and customer activity at least quarterly. They sometimes have to "tweak" these limits to fit the customers' needs, and they have had to make some one time changes to accept files above the limits, but that has not caused any operational or support issues.
Among the remote depost capture customers at Trinity Bank there are a couple of property management companies, some attorneys and doctors, an insurance company, a food service distribution company, and some companies involved in highway construction. The bank does not offer ACH conversion since most of their customers' receivables are commercial checks.
Trinity has not marketed outside their "normal" service area, but the product enabled them to move the depository side of a couple of borrowing relationships to the bank. Prior to remote depost capture, distance to the closest branch had prohibited these borrowing customers from making daily deposits. The bank uses remote depost capture to "bridge the distance gap". Per Mr. Burt, "Having remote capture has helped us to enhance deposit relationships with borrowing customers by doing away with the logistical problem of banking with us long distance." The bank has not changed its branching strategy as a result of offering remote depost capture but the product may influence that strategy in the future.
As to the reasons for their success with this product, Mr. Burt responded their "one on one approach". They looked at their customer base when they first implemented the product and targeted those that would benefit most. They did not do any mass mailing and did not offer any incentives. Everyone in the bank was involved in the beginning with the product. The bank was very selective and enforced their "know your customer" philosophy. Some customers were not ready for it when they first approached them, so there was an educational effort involved. He noted that the product is gaining momentum and more and more customers are asking for it. The regional banks have been active in their market with this product.
Recently Mr. Burt actually went onsite to a customer's office and personally installed remote deposit and trained the customer on their cash management product. The customer responded "you did something in 30 minutes that another bank couldn't do in 6 weeks". Mr. Burt acknowledged that it takes valuable time to drive to the customer's office and to offer to come out a second time, but he thinks it locks up the relationship for the bank.
Mr. Burt thinks remote depost capture is a great product and it has obviously taken off. He thinks the biggest mistake many banks are making is they offer the product and don't have an remote depost capture agreement. He says many banks are relying on their Depository Agreement and "unless those have been recently revised to incorporate remote depost capture, they aren't covered." He believes his 14 page agreement may be overkill, but he would rather be cautious especially in this new technology arena. Abound briefly discussed the indemnifications that a good agreement should include and the fact that many products available today do not offer the customer the controls they need to feel comfortable with the responsibilities placed upon them. Abound Resources and Trinity Bank agree that two essentials for the success of remote deposit capture are a robust product and a robust agreement.
