Viewpointe Beefs up Its Platform in Anticipation of Check 21

In anticipation of the swelling of check-image volume that Check 21 is expected to unleash, Viewpointe, a national image-exchange network and archive for electronic checks serving 10 banks, has engaged Accenture, a technology-services and consulting firm, to help prepare the company's platform to handle large image-exchange volumes. Viewpointe's archive stores almost half of all checks written in the U.S., the company says, with 45 million check images being added daily. Several efforts are now under way to build image-exchange networks and archives now that the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, commonly known as Check 21, is just seven months away from implementation. The new law permits so-called substitute checks made from images to have the same legal standing as the paper originals, which is expected to lead to widespread conversion of paper checks to electronic images. The images can be exchanged for clearing and settlement among banks that agree to accept them, or converted to subsititute checks for banks that don't agree to or can't accept images. Because image exchange is expected to save banks some $2 billion annually over the costs of physically moving paper, most observers say the new law should lead to an explosion in check images and exchange. “We asked Accenture to augment our infrastructure and platform to help maintain its integrity and operational excellence in such a high-volume production environment,” says John Lettko, chief executive of Viewpointe, in a statement released today. Unlike other image-exchange networks under development, Viewpointe stores images in a massive shared archive, bypassing the need to transmit them between banks or data centers. Among the banks it serves are Bank of America, HSBC Bank USA, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and U.S. Bancorp.