Comerica Inc. has begun offering its commercial customers digital images of the checks its corporate customers deposit into their accounts.
Many banks make images of the checks their business and consumer customers write. Observers say Comerica’s deposited-item service is another example of fee-generating capabilities that banks are developing to take advantage of their investments in image technology.
Daniel J. McCarty, the senior vice president of treasury management services at Comerica Bank, said the company had received numerous requests for this type of service. “I think we’re responding to customer demand,” he said.
Comerica is developing several other image products for its corporate clients, Mr. McCarty said.
“On the commercial side, clearly there are many opportunities” to create for-fee services using image technology, he said.
The deposited-item service, announced Monday, is offered through Comerica’s NetVision online banking and cash management system.
The service could help businesses resolve customer disputes and view deposits made to Comerica from multiple locations or from their own in-house lockbox shops, Mr. McCarty said.
Comerica, which operates its check archive in-house, began capturing digital images in 1994 and now has a seven-year “all-items” archive. The archive includes checks of Comerica customers and those from other banks that are deposited to accounts of Comerica customers.
The $53.5 billion-asset company said it will make deposited items available for 90 days to companies that subscribe to the service. Mr. McCarty said there will be a subscription fee and a per-item charge (he would not give the amounts).
Customers can access the images online, and Comerica said the self-service option would be cost-effective for people who request more than seven deposited items a month.
“One of our highest-value activities for our clients is to help them have satisfied customers,” Mr. McCarty said. “This helps them be successful.”
He noted that the service went through beta testing with a limited group of customers, and he said he knew of no other bank that is offering customers images of deposited checks.
Alenka Grealish, the manager of the banking group at the Boston research and consulting firm Celent Communications LLC, also said knew of no other bank with such a service.
Comerica’s image service is a “natural” extension of its existing image capabilities and would be useful if a customer wanted to know if a business had received a check, or if the person was disputing the amount of a payment, Ms. Grealish said. “I can see it from a customer service perspective.”
Comerica plans “very shortly” to start offering a remote capture service that will let companies scan customers’ checks at their own offices for deposit to Comerica via image, Mr. McCarty said.
This type of remote capture service has become very popular and is now offered by many other banks.
He said the Detroit-based company also plans to offer bulk file transfer of paid items to insurance companies and other companies that issue large volumes of checks. This will allow them to store those images in their own archives.
Comerica, one of the earliest advocates of check image exchange systems, last year started taking a more measured approach to using images for check clearing.
“When we get there, this will be a rock-solid process,” Mr. McCarty said. “Right now the industry is still working through those issues.”
