NEW YORK and DALLAS, June 5, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Viewpointe (www.viewpointe.com), the nation's leading provider of check image exchange and archive services, today joined forces with the National Clearing House Association (NCHA) to announce a new settlement exchange for check image exchange. NCHA, the single largest settler of clearing house check volume cleared in the United States, will offer Viewpointe's customers an integrated image exchange, settlement and adjustment process in one seamless solution.
Through NCHA, Viewpointe customers can settle activity from Image Share(tm) and Pointe2Pointe(tm) for all types of transactions including forward items, adjustments and returns. Additionally NCHA settlement offers tremendous flexibility for participating financial institutions to settle activity at multiple times throughout the day. NCHA's real time settlement system affords Viewpointe customers the ability to customize their exchanges to best address the activity exchanged through Viewpointe. NCHA has worked in partnership with the Viewpointe User Group to provide solutions that would address these users' needs.
"This is a critical year for the rollout of image exchange," said Glenn Wheeler, chief executive officer of NCHA. "Interoperability and interconnectivity are the key issues to successfully implementing industry-wide image exchange. By allying with Viewpointe, NCHA is making it easier for financial institutions to exchange electronic images on their own schedules, and creating new structures to simplify the settlement process."
There are several benefits to using the new NCHA settlement exchange. Now Viewpointe customers can:
* separate settlement for image exchange activity from paper * create separate reporting at NCHA for image exchange activity to help institutions analyze differences between image and paper activity * more easily obtain settlement extensions, as only image exchange participants need to be contacted * modify the frequency and times for image exchange settlement activity whenever necessary through agreement among the image exchange participants only * integrate new security measures such as restricted log-in access with the secure servers and encrypted information measures inherent in the system * use the "one-click" feature that allows image exchange-enabled customers to immediately attach the electronic information in one of five file formats. The information is then routed through NCHA's secure website to the recipient bank with the adjustment intact.
All Viewpointe ImageShare and image exchange customers can utilize the new NCHA exchange as soon as they are ready to convert from the paper exchange. NCHA is dedicated to working with each institution to complete their testing needs and have all Viewpointe image settlement converted from the paper exchange to the image exchange.
Viewpointe CEO Lou Buglioli stated, "Our goal in getting our customers connected extends to making image exchange settlement easier, more flexible and more in line with our customers' business needs. We're honored to be working with an industry leader like NCHA that shares our vision for check electronification and continues to help move the industry forward."
Future initiatives will focus on generating greater efficiencies and opportunities to exchange and share check images electronically, develop risk management tools and provide joint product offerings.
About Viewpointe
Viewpointe is the leading provider of check image exchange and archive services in the United States. Dedicated to helping financial institutions get connected to all of the nation's endpoints, Viewpointe is moving the industry closer to full check electronification. Viewpointe's core services, Pointe2Pointe, ImageShare and Image Storage, are designed to streamline the check payments process and promote image exchange and sharing on a national scale. Backed by top tier institutions including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, SunTrust, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and IBM, Viewpointe is actively helping financial institutions to rapidly transform their paper intensive check payment operations into an electronic payments business. Founded in 2001, Viewpointe is headquartered in New York, with offices in New Jersey, North Carolina and Texas. For more information, go to www.viewpointe.com.
About The National Clearing House
The National Clearing House (NCHA) is a member-owned and member-driven national association. NCHA provides check, image, and ACH services and products to its membership, including clearing, settlement, risk management, training, education, ACH audit, and payment resources and publications. NCHA is the single largest settler of clearinghouse check and image volume in the United States, settling more than six billion items annually.
NCHA provides a standardized settlement platform supporting industry standards and rules and has been recognized as the leader of settlement activities and a gateway to all major providers of both check and image services, including the top 20 banks in the nation, allowing its constituents the ability of choice. NCHA is a payments organization that continues to expand services through valuable partnerships and alliances in its commitment to provide risk management-related services, promote image exchange and provide various payment products and services. Visit NCHA on the Web at www.TheNCHA.com and www.1PRO.org.