Check 21

Prepare for Check 21 and the Transformation of the Payments Industry

The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act promises to bring about the biggest change in decades for the U.S. payments industry. Now, as we prepare for Check 21 to take effect, banks are coming to grips with the impact of these changes on their own operations.

Unisys maintains that the Check 21 legislation, which went into effect in October 2004, is just the start of a broader transformation of the payment system. A system that will ultimately exchange and settle all items digitally.

Are you ready for this transformation?

Check 21 Readiness

We believe that the key to short-term readiness and long-term transformation is assessing the impact across your enterprise and responding appropriately to deliver both operational savings and better strategic value to your customers.

We’ve consulted with top-tier banks representing over 60% of the total processing volume in the U.S., including Comerica and Huntington Bank. Our 3D Blueprinting methodology helped these banks identify the key processes affected by Check 21 legislation, the technology changes required, and the impact of these changes across their business.  As a result, these banks realized that over 100 processes will be affected — many of which involve significant technology gaps.

Currently, we’re helping many other banks understand the gaps in their current image exchange plans. We can work with you to determine if your current image quality processes and technologies will meet the new image standards — such as those encouraged by SVPCo.  As our recent agreement with SVPCo attests, our end-to-end approach qualifies us to help member banks overcome the challenges and harness the market opportunities of Check 21.

Our Check 21 findings cut across a range of issues and challenges, including:

• Customer service and call center training
• Managing customer expectations
• Archiving new standards information/legacy modifications
• Uncovering new product opportunities to maximize market strategies
• Image quality
• End-of-day settlement issues 

As a leading provider of item-processing products and transformation advisory services, Unisys plays a key role in assisting the banking industry as it evaluates the impact of Check 21 in the short-term.

Learn more about our banking and payments systems.

At the same time, we’re identifying tangible long-term opportunities to enable straight-through processing of checks. In ways that yield quality improvements, cost savings and potentially, incremental revenue.

See how we can help you respond to Check 21.  Contact Unisys today.