First Tennessee Joins Viewpointe Archive Service

First Tennessee Bank has signed a seven-year contract with Viewpointe Archive Services, an archive and retrieval service for check imagesoperated by J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and IBM.

Beginning in September, First Tennessee customers will be able to view checks online within 24 hours after clearing. Customers without Internet access can have bank tellers pull up check images immediately, instead of having to wait several days to receive copies.

First Tennessee is the first bank to use Viewpointe besides Chase and BofA.

It committed because "it's less expensive for us to outsource storage and retrieval," said Taylor Vaughan, senior vice president and manager of cash management services at $18.6 billion First Tennessee.

The bank already had working relationships with IBM and Check Solutions, and it also likes Viewpointe's disaster recovery plan.

First Tennessee has offered image-based statements for five years; only 10% of account holders get paper checks with statements today. But the deal with Viewpointe will help it enhance its services, Vaughan said.

First Tennessee will capture check images and send them to Viewpointe via a high-speed IBM telecommunications connection. Viewpointe will digitally store and retrieve the images using technology from IBM and its Check Solutions subsidiary.

The bank is acquiring more image-enabled check sorters, Vaughan added, and is building new interfaces to the archive.

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2001 CMP Media LLC. 7/1/01, Issue # 3807, page 16.