While you don't want to overdo it and look like a hypocrite (see note 1), there's nothing like a little green to spruce up your marketing this time of year. BankServ lets users see just how much they can save by uploading checks to the bank over the Net instead of hightailing over to the branch in their Hummer (note 2).

In my case, I'm only going to save a half barrel of oil per year by forgoing those branch visits. Less, if it ever stops raining and I can get back to biking to the branch. It sounds more impressive in terms of CO2 emissions saved: 200 pounds.

It's a nice tool. Financial institutions could also use similar calculators to show the green benefits of paying bills online, receiving electronic statements, or anything else that cuts down on waste.

Note the URL: http://www.bankserv.com/greenbanking/

Note:

1. The term is new to me, but my friends over at Javelin Strategy blogged about greenwashing this week. In short, it means misleading consumers about the extent of your eco-friendly practices.

Although, remote deposit capture has captured a significant share of larger businesses, consumers have had fewer options:

• USAA has offered in-home scanning, called Deposit@Home, for more than a year (previous coverage here), but its customer base is limited to current and retired members of the military.
• DepositNow, a unit of BankServ, allows anyone to use remote deposit services, but it's geared towards businesses and costs at least $29/mo, far above what consumers or even smaller businesses will pay.
• A number of banks also make it available to small businesses and the very wealthy, but consumer rollouts have been nonexistent. The cost of a dedicated scanner makes it uneconomical for the mass market.

CheckFree aims to change that with a new service targeted to consumers and very small businesses (press release here). The key is using existing consumer scanners and multi-function printers. USAA has proven that this technology does indeed work, so we expect CheckFree's service will pass technical hurdles.

It's hard to predict consumer demand, but given that around 20% of U.S. households maintain a full- or part-time business endeavor, we expect strong demand if the price is reasonable and technology is extremely easy to use.

Remote deposit services could be used as the cornerstone of a premium online banking offering (note 2) attractive to microbusiness (note 1) owners and consumers who still receive paper checks a few times per month.

Notes:

1. We define a microbusiness as one with $50,000 or less in annual revenue, typically a part-time, home-based business. For more information see Online Banking Report #107/108: Small and Microbusiness Banking Online.
2. See Online Banking Report #109 for ideas on how to create a premium online banking channel.

BankServ

San Francisco-based BankServ was founded in 1996 as one of the first companies to offer point-of-sale check conversion and ACH item processing for merchants. Today the company is a major wire-transfer processor handling $3 billion per day for more than 100 financial institutions. It also processes 2 million echecks per month, an area that has been growing rapidly, up from just 2 million processed all of last year (2001).

The company offers a variety of payment-related services including interbank transfers, online account opening and funding, business-to-business payments, business-to-consumer payments, Internet checks, ACH funds transfers, online wire transfers, credit card processing, and authentication and security capabilities.

BankServ is owned by several individuals and two venture funds: Preferred Capital Management and Thomson Financial Investors.

CashEdge

Founded in 1999, CashEdge has attracted a number of blue-chip backers and clients. For example, Yahoo has provided CashEdge-powered interbank transfers since early 2001. Investors include CIBC, RBC Financial Group, General Atlantic Partners, and Marsh & McLennan Capital.

CashEdge provides new account funding, interbank funds transfer, and email payments through its Money Movement Suite. And it’s the only epayments vendor with a significant account aggregation presence. Its aggregation platform features alerts, planning and budgeting tools, portfolio analysis, wireless options, and the ability for the end-user’s authorized advisors to view aggregated data.

On Sept. 30, the company is expected to announce an overnight payment option between customers at participating banks. Initially, Digital Insight’s 1,500 clients will be able to offer the service. This appears to be a significant improvement to interbank funds transfer and we’ll look at it closer as more details are released.

CashEdge has 20 clients including Vanguard, Royal Bank, CIBC, TD Canada, Laurentian Bank, Yahoo, Advanced Federal CU and four advisory firms. Along with Digital Insight, the company is working 724 Solutions, Sanchez, and most recently Financial Fusion (July ‘02) and NYCE (Sept. ‘02).