27 Sep Fiserv accelerates clearing of checks
BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Fiserv Imagesoft, a division of the Brookfield-based information management firm Fiserv, announced on Thursday that it has completed enhancement of its ExchangeGuard suite of applications. The augmentations are geared specifically toward improving the security of image replacement documents (IRDs), which are paper copies of a scanned image of an original check.
The new features of ExchangeGuard include the ability to automate and print high volumes of IRDs for account statement enclosures. The system enables financial institutions that are electronically exchanging some portion of their work to print IRDs of their on-us check images for inclusion in monthly account statements alongside cancelled physical checks.
Fraud risk is a major target of the new system as well, as now a Secure Seal – an encoded graphic printed in the legend portion of the IRD to the left of the check image – is printed on all IRDs as a preventive measure against forgery and alteration.
Encoded in the Secure Seal is information from the check’s MICR line, where the original check data that allows for processing, as well as data related to reconverting between banks. The Secure Seal can contain information on the production date of the substitute check and where it was produced, further limiting the risk of forgery.
“With the addition of Secure Seals on IRDs, our customers can rest assured that all of their IRDs are protected and can be self-authenticated, therefore reducing their risk,” said Ron Thompson, president of Fiserv Imagesoft. “With ExchangeGuard’s document composition functionautomating the process and leveraging their high-speed equipment, productivity can increase as much as ten-fold.”