21 Years Later - Check 21 Law: Automation of Checks
The Check 21 Law, a vast improvement in check processing, was needed to keep the banking system operating even during times such as 9/11. Following 9/11 reasonable methods for shipping checks came to a stop (all planes were grounded) and made it difficult for checks to be deposited and cleared by banks any distance away.
What happened 20+ years later? Have paper checks gone the way of dinosaurs?
- Checks travel electronically instead of in planes, trains, and trucks
- Processing efficiency and time to submit a check to a bank for payment are vastly improved - even instant clearing is common today
- Check automation reduced risk and liability for banks
- Paper check sorters became as extinct as dinosaurs, and checks changed to electronic files
- The speed of processing decreased check fraud and check kiting, initially.
Here are a few examples of things that have been automated since 2004:
- Online Check Deposits
- Loan Origination Online
- Loan Processing
- Deposit Gathering Online
- Compliance and Risk Management
- Debit Card Fraud Detection
- Money Laundering Detection
- Branch functions – tellers
- Marketing tasks
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Author: Denise Butler