1) RemoteDepositCapture.com: We keep hearing checks are dead, who is writing checks?
Bart McMannon, Panini: According to the Federal Reserve, the number of checks written is on the decline but the average amount is increasing; what would be driving these numbers? The housing rental market is one that stands out to us. According to rentcafe.com, rentership growth outpaced homeownership in 97 of 100 large cities in the US. There are now more renters than homeowners in the top 25 cities. Tenentcloud.com in a customer survey found that 61% of tenants pay or want to have the option to pay by check or some other non-electronic form of payment. The leading argument for doing so is not having a transaction fee. Some may also argue that it also buys them a few days before the payment is processed.
The Federal Reserve Payments Study in 2017 showed a moderate decline of just 0.8 billion annually. Checks, it seems, may be on the way out, but thanks to the rental market, it’s possible their demise is not imminent.
2) RemoteDepositCapture.com: With banks moving toward branch of the future and a current pandemic among us, what does the market for Remote Deposit Capture look like?
Bart McMannon, Panini: Today's fast paced environment and desire for instant gratification through self-service models has led to the explosive growth of the digital channels, in particular mobile, and continued speculation that the growth of these channels might diminish the need for brick-and-mortar bank branches. As financial institutions are dealing with slowed branch-generated revenue and stringent cost controls, they are rethinking their retail distribution business model and right-sizing their branch networks.
In 2008 there were 98,500 retail branches that has declined to 87,700 in 2018 (MarketForce, 2019). That’s an 11% decline over the 10-year period which may not be terribly alarming, but COVID-19 could very well accelerate this closure rate as customers become more familiar with online banking and remote deposit capture (RDC).
Despite the branch decline, it is very well understood that the customer experience is extremely important in customer retention both in branch and in remote banking. With fewer branches and customers visiting those branches comes the increasing need for remote customers to make deposits in a convenient way right from their location, or in mobility. The global RDC market is forecasted to grow at a rate of 10.94% CAGR to reach a valuation of $480 Million in 2026 (Reportsanddata.com, 2019).
3) RemoteDepositCapture.com: What are the trends you are seeing with remote deposit capture?
Bart McMannon, Panini: Since the Check21 legalization came into force in 2004, RDC has become increasingly widespread and now a customer expectation. RDC Trends, Issues & Insights, a 2017 study done by RemoteDepositCapture.com, reports that in 2016, small businesses adopted RDC at a rate of 36.4 percent. This growth will certainly be accelerated by COVID-19; and facilitates a growing need for a variety of check scanner options based on business size and check volume.
Recent trends also show financial institutions offering check scanners at a reduced monthly fee to their small/medium sized business customers in order to maximize their customer satisfaction and increase their efficiencies.
Celent Senior Analyst Bob Meara's analysis in State of Remote Deposit Capture 2017: Noted, “The ability of remote deposit capture to extract, validate, and manage payments information remains unappreciated." This leaves plenty of room for growth in RDC in small businesses.
4) RemoteDepositCapture.com: What are intelligent check scanners, and how are they different from legacy RDC scanners?
Bart McMannon, Panini: There’s a movement to build RDC platforms with scanners that have onboard intelligence. This new generation of scanners may cost a little more, but the added features and functionality can drive greater overall savings and efficiencies.
Remote deposit capture has been a hugely successful innovation for financial institutions and FI customers by eliminating labor and time-intensive processes associated with depositing and processing checks. Now FIs are beginning to
future-proof their RDC platforms with intelligent check scanners.
Intelligent check scanners aren’t new – they’ve been available in the U.S. market for several years. FI’s have been slow to adapt, but now the movement towards this technology is quite evident.
Intelligent scanners are also driverless, which simplifies setup and ongoing support – since drivers and API packages usually require periodic updates when they are necessary, as with traditional, non-intelligent scanners – and means zero footprint on the local PC. They’re essentially plug-and-play, where a business customer can unpack a device, plug it in and start scanning checks in just a few minutes.
The intelligent scanners are also operating-system agnostic, which is important for FIs offering RDC to business clients who may be using Mac or Linux, while traditional RDC scanners were sometimes compatible only with MS Windows. While network scanners are priced higher than traditional check scanners, the prices are generally offset by the added functionality and savings of intelligent scanner easily offset the price premium. For clients not ready to make the move, intelligent scanners are available which can temporarily be used with a traditional USB connection and API setup, and upgraded to “smart”, API-free use at a later stage. Panini’s intelligent scanners can be viewed here:
https://www.panini.com/en/products/wireless-scanners.
About Panini
Founded in Turin, Italy, Panini has enabled clients to capitalize on shifts in the global payments processing market for 75 years. Panini has a rich history of technology innovation, leveraging the company’s expertise in research & development. Their market leading solutions are based on state-of-the-art engineering resources and ISO 9001 quality certified production. Panini improves customer efficiency and fraud prevention via trusted and innovative technologies for check truncation and secure identity. Panini’s expanding portfolio of secure identity technologies include reliable, user-friendly options for customer verification and authentication. The company’s scalable check capture systems address the complete range of distributed check processing opportunities, resulting in the world’s largest deployed base of scanners, now exceeding one million devices. The company operates on a global scale and has a direct subsidiary in Dayton (OH), USA to cover strategic North American markets.
Panini has been supporting the RDC industry by being a long-time site sponsor of RemoteDepositCapture.com. To learn more about Panini products and services, view their listing in the Buyer’s Guide, explore a variety of Panini scanners in the Scanner Matrix, or visit Panini.com