Bank of America Launches ARC Services to Convert Paper Checks to ACH Transactions
ATLANTA, CHARLOTTE, N.C., and ORLANDO, Fla., Apr 28, 2003 /PRNewswire-FirstCall
via COMTEX/ -- Payments 2003 Booth #201 -- Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced
today that it will begin offering Accounts Receivable Conversion, or "ARC",
services. The Bank of America ARC solution is powered by CheckFree Corporation's
(Nasdaq: CKFR) PEP+ reACH software, and represents the first industry offering
that allows corporations to take advantage of ARC benefits without significant
up-front costs or cumbersome software installations.
ARC services allow corporations that receive high volumes of paper check
payments to convert those items into electronic transactions that can be
processed through the ACH payment network. Benefits to the corporation include
improved processing efficiencies, faster funds availability and higher
collection rates. Corporate treasurers and retail lockbox and credit card
managers can lower transaction processing costs, reduce manual handling, and
streamline operations.
"The benefit of letting Bank of America handle ARC conversion at the bank is
that companies can enjoy the efficiencies of processing ARC transactions without
having to invest in the software, hardware, and additional personnel required by
all other ARC models that are currently available," said Peter D. Wheeler,
senior vice president, Receipts Product Management for Bank of America. "In
turn, we have the opportunity to add value to these types of services. Clients
need only transmit a file of raw check MICR data, and we will do the conversion
at the bank -- where ACH processing occurs, and where returned items can be
managed efficiently and accurately."
The Bank of America solution is unique in increasing successful conversion and
minimizing returns. From the first day of conversion, the check MICR file
content is improved to deliver an optimal conversion rate because the client's
check file is matched against a proprietary database of ACH-approved
transactions. The higher successful conversion rate results in fewer returns. A
lower return rate minimizes costs, particularly when processing higher volumes.
Additionally, Bank of America offers same-day availability for items drawn on
Bank of America. Since one out of every four households maintains an account
with Bank of America, there is real benefit to the corporate biller in the Bank
of America solution.
The CheckFree PEP+ reACH product has a number of advantages, including:
* A valuable CheckFree database of ACH-approved transactions built since
1987 by routing bill payments to nearly every bank in the country.
This database is many times the size of any other commercially
available database and will result in clients experiencing minimal
return rates from Day 1 of using the service.
* Market-leading MICR parsing from LML Payments, a leading provider of
check conversion technology.
* Vendor independence by requiring only a feed of unparsed MICR data,
which can be generated by most Remittance Processing Systems today.
* Full integration with CheckFree's PEP+ system for processing ACH
payments. PEP+ is the processing engine for 39 of the top 50 largest
ACH originators.
"Bank of America challenged us to build an ARC product that responded to their
customers' desire to implement an ARC solution quickly, inexpensively, and
without threatening to disrupt their operations," said Denny Oswalt, senior vice
president and general manager of CheckFree ACH Solutions. "CheckFree PEP+ reACH
will accomplish that goal while taking full advantage of the robust returns
capabilities in our widely used PEP+ software."
About Bank of America Global Treasury Services
The Global Treasury Services (GTS) division of Bank of America provides
integrated working capital management and treasury solutions to clients that
include multi-nationals, correspondent banks, governments and global 1000
businesses. GTS services include treasury management, trade finance, foreign
exchange, short-term credit facilities and short-term investing. Bank of America
GTS is the number one treasury and trade services provider in the United States.
Unique to Bank of America, the GTS Global Banking System (GBS) is the only
common technology platform for offshore banking functions, providing global
support to over 500 units in 40 locations with over 2,500 users.
Bank of America stock (ticker: BAC) is listed on the New York, Pacific and
London stock exchanges. The company's Web site is www.bankofamerica.com . News,
speeches and other corporate information may be found at
www.bankofamerica.com/newsroom .
About CheckFree (www.checkfreecorp.com )
CheckFree (Nasdaq: CKFR) is the leading provider of financial electronic
commerce services and products. Founded in 1981 and celebrating its 22nd year in
e-commerce, CheckFree is comprised of three divisions: Electronic Commerce,
Software, and Investment Services. CheckFree launched the first fully integrated
electronic billing and payment solution in 1997. In the quarter ended March 31,
2003, about 9 million consumers initiated online payments through services
offered by CheckFree's Electronic Commerce division. The company has multi-year
contracts with 277 of the nation's top billers to provide online billing and
payment through 842 financial services organizations, including banks, brokerage
firms, Internet portals and content sites and personal financial management
(PFM) software. CheckFree Investment Services provides a broad range of
investment management services to thousands of financial institutions
nationwide. The division's clients manage more than 1.2 million portfolios
totaling more than $500 billion in assets.
CheckFree's Software division provides solutions through three operating units:
CheckFree ACH Solutions, CheckFree Financial and Compliance Solutions (CFACS),
and CheckFree i-Solutions. CheckFree ACH Solutions provides software and
services that are used to process more than two-thirds of the nation's eight
billion Automated Clearing House payments, while CFACS provides reconciliation
and compliance software and services to more than 400 organizations in the
banking, brokerage, utility, retail, insurance and credit card industries, among
others. CheckFree i-Solutions is the leading provider of e-billing and
e-statement software and services for both business-to- consumer and
business-to-business applications, with more billers as clients than all of its
competitors have combined.
SOURCE CheckFree Corporation
CONTACT: media, Judy DeRango Wicks, +1-678-375-1595, or
jdwicks@checkfree.com , or investors, Tina Moore, +1-678-375-
278, or
tmoore@checkfree.com , both of CheckFree Corporation, or Dani
lle Cormier of
RF Binder Partners, +1-212-994-7512, or danielle.cormier@rfbi
der.com , for
Bank of America
/Company News On-Call:
prnewswire.com
URL: checkfreecorp.com
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Copyright (C) 2003 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
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