CONIX Systems, Inc.

Government’s Need to Stem Improper Payments Mirrors Banking Industry’s Need for Same

FStokes — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 21:10:01 +0000

Improper payments have been a worsening hemorrhage for the Federal government for longer than a decade. Passage of the Improper Payment Information Act of 2002 was an early signal that the costs were headed even higher. Targeting a $110 billion source of government waste makes sense. Signed into effect by President Obama yesterday the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act targets deficit reduction by ending wasteful spending resulting from payments made in the wrong amount, to the wrong person, or for the wrong reason.

It is equally important that banks and payment processors look at the costs and risks created by the financial system’s own “improper payments” dilemma presented by the marked increase in exception items within the payment stream. By this, I mean that there has been a notable increase in the level of fraud and systemic error in the payment processing environment as a whole. We talk about it all the time with our customers. Our primary focus as a company is to identify and resolve these issues. (CONIX issued a news release expressing its position on improper payments yesterday, read the release at http://www.conixsystems.com/News/pr_InappropriatePaymentsr.asp.

Why Banks Must Find Dupes Sooner

TinaWard — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:32:32 +0000

CONIX Systems President of Technology, Frank Stokes, was invited to submit an article to Digital Transactions for its July issue emphasizing the need for earlier detection of duplicate payments in order to minimize the risks to banks and their customers. Read the complete article at our website.

Banks should be prepared for increased duplicates and fraud occurrences related to expansion of mobile banking.

SFortson — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:03:50 +0000

“The urgent need for banks to accelerate duplicates and other exception item payment types is highlighted now that Top 10 bank JP Morgan Chase has publicized its remote mobile capture iPhone application. As reported by American Banker today, this will ‘help propel mobile banking from a niche to a mainstream product,’ – a concern CONIX has expressed both in American Banker in May and in Digital Transactions in July. Make no mistake, mobile deposit will be a very popular business and consumer accountholder convenience tool that will create a tsunami of duplicates and opportunities to perpetrate fraud.”

CONIX-DSS to provide integrated Day 0/1 exception processing solution.

TinaWard — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:43:40 +0000

CONIX and Data Support Systems (DSS) have partnered to provide an integrated Day 0/1 exception processing solution to the banking industry http://conix.com/News/pr_DSS.asp. The solution steering committee formed early this year and consisting of representatives from 4 different banks and 1 major outsourcer is providing guidance on the direction of the solution. With CONIX’s Day 1 payments and exception processing experience and DSS’s command of the Day 2 exception processing arena, the partnership will expedite the availability of an end-to-end/”total” solution.

Same-day ACH service FedACH

TinaWard — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 16:20:52 +0000

The Fed will begin providing same-day ACH settlement for consumer checks converted to ACH and online- or phone-initiated consumer debit transfers starting Aug. 2nd. The duplicate payments between ACH and Check can and will likely appear before a bank can blink its eyes. A cross-channel Day 1 exception processing solution is an imperative in a same-day ACH environment. Maybe a bit of an increase in duplicates and other exceptions, but a definite issue on the timing. Originating banks will enjoy faster settlement of converted payments while the receiving banks will be under the gun to identify exceptions due to early cut-off times. For details on the Fed’s plans: http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/other/other20100621a1.pdf

Frank Stokes of CONIX featured in American Banker

TinaWard — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:55:20 +0000

Frank Stokes, CONIX Systems’ President of Technology, was recently featured in American Banker’s Viewpoint to discuss the risk management of remote deposit capture and image exchange. Stokes discusses the need for earlier identification and resolution of exceptions.

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/175_100/remote-checks-risky-1019786-1.html?ET=americanbanker_ab:e3303:2101887a:&st=email.

BAI Webinar on Acceleration of Exception Processing

TinaWard — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:30:27 +0000

CONIX is working together with BAI to provide an open forum for discussing the acceleration of Day 2 exception processes into Day 1. Speakers will include Carl Bortol (DSS), Paul Carrubba (ARLAW), Tim Dillow (BB&T), and Cyndi Rhodes (Symcor). Please join us on June 8th 1:00-2:00 CT. Register here - http://www.bai.org/events/webinars/details.aspx?ec=0165&et=webinars

Checks without paper?

SFortson — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 15:28:52 +0000

Reporter Andrew Johnson’s article in today’s American Banker (”A New Goal in Payments: Checks Without Paper <http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/175_81/new-goal-in-payments-1018397-1.html> “) makes an interesting point regarding payment processing. In the article, he writes, “The Fed paper suggested that banks could benefit from all-digital checks because they could devote fewer resources to their check systems and could clear check payments faster.” Increasing the velocity of financial transactions by compressing the time to process payments is a worthy industry goal. Clearing check payments as soon as possible could certainly be a boon for banks, but at what cost? Duplicates and fraudulent payments will inevitably find their way into the mix. To insulate themselves from risk, banks need to accelerate exception item processing at the same rate at which they are processing payments. Whether the check is paper, or an image, or 100% digital, any effort at acceleration only strengthens the case for accelerating Day 2 exception processing to Day 1.

“The ISOs are Coming! The ISOs are Coming! The ISOs are Coming!” But at a Slow Pace!!

bsaffici — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:38:42 +0000

The April issue of Digital Transactions
( http://digitaltransactions.net/files/DigitalTransactionsApril10.pdf ) has an article starting on page 20 that examines the struggles most ISOs are having adding Remote Deposit Capture as a new cross-sell product to their existing merchant base. Does the offering by ISOs to bank’s customers cause disintermediation to the banks? Are bank’s defending their turf and offering RDC to the smaller retail merchants?

The risks of mobile banking & consumer RDC

TinaWard — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:20:59 +0000

Daniel Wolfe, American Banker featured reporter, recently published an article (ACH Is Next Frontier for Mobile Phones) highlighting ACH as the next step in the evolution of mobile banking/payments. While enabling mobile phones to connect to the ACH network would certainly bring mobile payments closer to being fully realized, one can only imagine what kinds of additional risks this would create. The banking industry has already seen an increase in duplicate payments and attempted fraud directly related to remote deposit capture. What additional risks can we expect when consumer deposits are added to the mix?