AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today the Electronic Check Clearing House Organization (ECCHO) announced the launch of the National Check Payments Certification (NCPC) program designed to help financial institutions enhance critical check knowledge essential for check products and processing. UMACHA, Viewpointe and WACHA are partnering with ECCHO to prepare training for an annual certification exam that ECCHO will administer. Additionally, ECCHO is enlisting other partners to maximize the availability of the program across the entire industry. Initially, these partners are EPCOR and The Bankers Bank.
“Improvements in the check system have changed the characteristics and processing requirements of checks while greatly increasing the efficiency of the check payments system and enabling huge industry savings,” said David Walker, ECCHO president. “However, some of these changes have resulted in staffing reductions that dilute the industry’s collective expertise.” The resulting challenge, replacing traditional paper check knowledge with an understanding of the new electronic check environment, has created the need for a national program for check payments certification.
The rate and volume of change in the check payment system during the past five years are unlike any in the history of U.S. payments. According to the “The 2010 Federal Reserve Payments Study” released in December 2010, more than 96% of all checks are already processed electronically. The volume of checks processed in 2009 was more than 24 billion with a value totaling $31 trillion. Given the significant volume and value of checks in the payments system, the degree of operational and product change resulting from the shift from paper to electronics, and the complexity of ongoing regulatory changes, industry participants need to maintain and cultivate additional check expertise.
The NCPC certification exam will test the knowledge levels of individuals in four subject areas:
1) Rules, laws and regulations
2) Fraud and risk mitigation
3) Check operations
4) Check products
The training and examination are designed to be beneficial to payments professionals across their institutions, including those that work in check, ACH, treasury, product, card, fraud and risk mitigation.
ECCHO and its partners are committed to delivering a quality program for the industry. The first publicly available certification exam will occur in spring 2012 with preparation for the exams beginning in 2011. Those interested in learning more about the NCPC or about training and review for the NCPC exam should contact:
- ECCHO – Anita Driscoll at adriscoll@eccho.org or 214.273.3205
- EPCOR – Ann-Marie Bartels at ann-marieb@epcor.org or 816.474.5630
- The Bankers Bank – Mark Keeling at mkeeling@thebankersbank.com or 405.848.8877
- UMACHA - Fred Laing fredl@umacha.org or 763.549.7000
- Viewpointe - Karroll Searcy at karroll.searcy@viewpointe.com or 214.953.4723
- WACHA - Mary Gilmeister at mgilmeister@wacha.org or 262.345.1245
About ECCHO
ECCHO is a not-for-profit mutual benefit corporation with more than 3,000 financial institution members. Every depository financial institution in the U.S. is eligible for membership. During 2010, ECCHO member financial institutions used check images to exchange, under the ECCHO Rules, approximately 7.9 billion transactions totaling $9.9 trillion. ECCHO is recognized across the U.S. as the national provider of private sector check image exchange rules.
About EPCOR
EPCOR is a not-for-profit trade association devoted to providing timely and relevant payments education and support to our members to help them maintain compliance, improve operational processes and mitigate risk and fraud. Through our affiliation with NACHA, ECCHO and other industry associations EPCOR fosters and promotes improvement of the payment systems which are in the best interests of our members. EPCOR members include over 2,300 banks, credit unions, thrifts and affiliated organizations located in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For more information visit www.epcor.org.
About The Bankers Bank
Organized in 1985, The Bankers Bank (TBB) currently employs a total of 54 at its main office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, its branch in McKinney, Texas, and its loan production office in Grapevine, Texas. TBB is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bankers Bancorp of Oklahoma, Inc., which is in turn owned by nearly 100 community banks. TBB is primarily engaged in providing direct correspondent banking services to several hundred community banks in their region. In addition, TBB licenses its proprietary correspondent banking platform and offers ASP services to other correspondent institutions.
About UMACHA
The Upper Midwest Automated Clearing House Association (UMACHA) is the Regional Payments Association serving the 9th Federal Reserve District. It’s the premier provider for education regarding payments systems and provides more than 100 webinars, workshops, symposiums and showcases annually. It also offer Customized On Location Assistance (COLA) for specialized training and education, information sharing services and compliance and audit services for its 800+ members.
ABOUT VIEWPOINTE
Viewpointe® is a leading provider of multibank infrastructure solutions for customers ranging from credit unions to Fortune 100 financial institutions. With one of the largest national archives of check images and information, Viewpointe offers archive capabilities, end-to-end check image exchange clearing and settlement and Automated Clearing House association services. Bank Technology News named Viewpointe one of the top innovators of 2008, an annual ranking of the 25 most advanced people, companies and technologies in financial services. Since 2006, Viewpointe has been named to the prestigious FinTech 100, representing the best of the best in financial technology and service providers. For more information, please visit http://www.viewpointe.com/.
About WACHA
WACHA is a not for profit membership organization serving financial institutions and companies on ACH, Check, Wire and Card. WACHA’s mission is to be the Premier Payments Resource for our members and clients by providing them with high value, comprehensive solutions through quality products, education and other services. Products and Services include ACH Audits, ACH and RDC Risk Assessments, training, publications and a payments support line.