For those who believe that receipts and other information from the printer
at an atm is duplicative information and access is unnecessary, think
again.  Bank of America and Chase Manhattan are rolling out technology
that will allow customers to obtain copies of their cancelled checks at an
atm.  Go figure.  It is expected that other banks will also soon offer the
same service to their customers.  yes, it can be said that one could also
obtain these cancelled checks at a branch or from a web site.  it can also
be said that some blind end users may not be able to navigate the web site
or use it effectively.  Also, bank branches are not open 24 hours a day as
atm's are.  The Bank of America is the nation's largest atm owner with
more than 14,000 machines.  There is currently a negotiated settlement in
place that calls for functionality of all new features on Bank of America
atm machines for blind persons.

kelly

The Wall Street Journal

    November 1, 2000

Money & Investing

Bank of America, Chase Take Steps
To Cut Cost of Handling Paper Checks

   Associated Press

   NEW YORK -- Bank of America Corp., Chase Manhattan Corp.'s Chase
   Manhattan Bank and International Business Machines Corp. have teamed
   up to create an electronic processing system that they say could
   substantially reduce the cost of handling paper checks.

   The system, known as Viewpointe Archive Services, also will make it
   possible for consumers to get copies of their checks from Web sites
   and automated-teller machines maintained by banks.

   Viewpointe is aimed at speeding up the processing of the estimated 68
   million checks that Americans write every year.

   William H. Hoefling, Chase's executive vice president, said Wednesday
   that the system will create digital images of checks that can be
   shared electronically by banks, potentially cutting processing costs
   by 30%.

   He added that the new venture hopes to sign up "a significant number"
   of other banks over the next few years.

   James D. Dixon, who heads Bank of America's online operations, said
   the process "will have a huge impact" on bank users. Bank of America
   customers will be able to go to banking centers, ATM machines or use
   their personal computers to view and print copies of their checks. He
   also said the system would make it possible for more banks to stop
   returning canceled checks or copies of canceled checks to customers.

   While some banks already have internal electronic processing systems,
   Viewpointe would link banks nationally and allow them to exchange
   check images and clear the checks electronically.

   Chase's Mr. Hoefling said the typical paper check currently has to be
   handled a dozen times in bank processing, six times by the issuing
   bank and six times by the receiving bank.

   Bank of America, the nation's second-largest banking company in terms
   of assets, processes 40 million checks a day, or about 10 billion a
   year. Chase, the nation's No. 3 bank, handles about 2.5 billion checks
   each year.

   Viewpointe will be based in Houston and initially will have 30
   employees drawn from the two banks and IBM Global Services, a division
   of IBM, Armonk, N.Y. The IBM Global Services data centers that will
   maintain the archive are in Dallas and Boulder, Colo. Bank of
   America's headquarters are in Charlotte, N.C., while Chase is based in
   New York.

   Officials from the banks said the three companies had put up the
   initial capital for the venture, but declined to give the amount.


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