SVPCO Reports Another Month of Steady Build in Image Volume

The promise of Check 21 may be unfolding more slowly than enthusiasts would like, but the country's largest image-exchange network recorded another gain in volume in January. New York-based SVPCO, part of the The Clearing House Payments Co., which is owned by many of the nation's largest banks, handled 13.9 million items last month, up 19% over December's volume. These totaled $82.3 billion in value, a 12% jump. A dozen banks are now trading check images through the system, with the latest, HSBC, coming on line last week, up from two banks a year ago when the network began commercial operation. “In January, the Image Payments Network set two records for volume and one for total dollars, and we expect that growth rate to continue for the foreseeable future,” said George Thomas, executive vice president at The Clearing House, in a statement. The Image Payments Network is the name of SVPCO's image-exchange system. Progress among banks toward end-to-end image exchange has been slow, and in most cases images traded through networks have been re-converted to paper as so-called image-replacement documents, or printouts of the check images, as prescribed in the Check 21 law. Officially the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century, Check 21 became effective October 2004 and allows banks to treat these check-image printouts as legal equivalents of the original checks. But SVPCO, which began reporting its network's monthly volume a few months ago, has seen a steady build in network connections and volume. In January, 2005, the network handled 18,000 items worth $2.6 million for the two banks then linked to the system.