Account opening processes add a new twist to ID scanning at the bank branch — and it’s not for security purposes
We sometimes hear that our SmartSource Micro Elite has a feature that seems out of place on a single-feed check scanner: a built-in ID card scanner, included as standard. Why would you need that if you’re doing remote deposit?
They’ve got a point. Most of the ones who would want a check scanner with ID card scanning are banks and credit unions. But they use high-speed batch scanners at their teller stations, because single-feed models would be too slow. And on the other side of that, most single-feed scanner users are small businesses using them for remote deposit, few of whom have a reason to scan customer IDs.
What’s the point of ID capture on a single-feed RDC scanner?
Well, the idea actually came from some banks and credit unions that were using our batch-speed scanners. We began to hear that they wanted a smaller-footprint device to sit on the desks of their account services personnel. They couldn’t justify putting a batch-feed scanner at every banking desk, because they rarely, if ever, had need to scan batches of checks there. They only needed to scan the ID of the customer opening a new account, and possibly a check to fund the account. And space on their desk, like at the teller window, was at a premium. So, that’s the purpose that the Micro Elite was designed to serve.
Of course, every bank or credit union has its own process for opening an account, but what we’ve typically observed looks something like this:
- A customer comes in, goes to a teller window or customer service counter, and asks to open an account.
- S/he is directed to the account services personnel in the branch, where a banker will complete the process at a separate desk.
- The customer and the banker fill out the necessary forms together, and at some point in the process, a copy of the customer’s driver’s license is required.
- The banker gets up and walks the customer’s ID over to the teller counter and runs it through one of the scanners there; or takes it over to a copier and makes a paper copy that is kept on file and/or scanned into the system.
- The customer hands in a check with the initial deposit that will fund the account, or funds are transferred over from another account, and a withdrawal or transfer slip is used.
- The banker takes the check and/or deposit slip over to the teller area to be scanned into the system.
- The banker returns to complete the final steps back at the services desk, and the account is opened.
That’s just one example, but the bottom line is that a lot of the transactions that take place at the account or member services desks involve just a couple of items that need to be scanned – but those can add a disproportionate amount of time to the process. You may only be scanning one driver’s license and one check during an account opening, but depending on your process, that could add several minutes to the time it takes.
Is it worth spending a couple thousand dollars per station to solve that problem? Maybe not. A couple hundred dollars? Now you’ve got a good case. And so that’s where a single feed check scanner with ID capture comes in.
There’s one more thing to say here, which is that the reason things played out this way is because of how rapidly the role of ID scanning in the bank branch has evolved. Just a few years ago, when we first started rolling it out as a main feature in our multi-feed scanners, everyone immediately thought that ID scan was going to be used as an anti-fraud tool and a Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance tool. But that turned out to be a case where enthusiasm got out ahead of the technology.
The truth was, no one had the security part of ID scanning in the branch quite figured out yet. (It’s come a long way toward filling that role since then, but that is a separate story for another article.) In the meantime, ID scanners can streamline form-filling by reading and populating the information within the system, and matching it to known customers. So, long story short, building ID scan first for high-speed scanners at the teller window turned out to be a false start, but that hasn’t stopped the technology from finding its place inside the branch.
We hope this has been an interesting look at how ID scanning came to be in your check scanner and how it’s shaped up so far – stay tuned for where it goes next!
