BOSTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sovereign Bank announced
today, at the 2007 AFP(R) Annual Conference, the official launch of their
Payee Positive Pay service for commercial customers. This service adds an
important new fraud protection component to Sovereign's existing Positive
Pay and Teller Positive Pay services by helping to detect altered payee
names on presented checks.
"Check fraud continues to be a concern throughout the financial
services industry. Criminals are now using the latest technology to alter
the payee name on stolen or counterfeit checks," said Florence Lenoel,
Senior Vice President of Sovereign's Global Solutions. "Sovereign's Payee
Positive Pay greatly decreases the risk of loss from check alterations --
helping to save our customers, and the bank, significant dollars."
With the Payee Positive Pay service, customers send Sovereign a file
containing their issued check information as often as checks are drafted.
The new system compares the payee name and several other fields on the
presented checks to the customer's issued file. If mismatches or 'suspect'
items are detected, they are reported to the customer via Sovereign's
Web-based Information Reporting & Initiation Services (IRIS) system. From
IRIS, customers can also view check images and instruct the bank to pay or
return 'suspect' items, allowing items to be returned within 24 hours.
Checks that are presented for encashment at any one of Sovereign's
nearly 750 Community Banking Offices throughout the Northeast are also
protected by Payee Positive Pay. Tellers verify the payee name to that on
the customer's issue file, and do not cash mismatches.
Lenoel also notes that Sovereign has made significant investments in
technology and workflow infrastructure to offer customers the most
comprehensive protection against check fraud. "Our
straight-through-processing environment expedites delivery of 'suspect'
items to our customers and the check issue information to our tellers,
improving accuracy overall," she said.
Sovereign offers Positive Pay and Teller Positive Pay as free
enhancements to their Full Account Reconciliation service. Positive Pay,
Teller Positive Pay, and Payee Positive Pay services are also available to
commercial customers that do not use Sovereign's reconciliation programs.
In the near future Sovereign will be introducing Positive Pay Alerts, which
securely notify customers through cell phones and emails when they have
exception items that need pay/return decisions.
About Sovereign
Sovereign Bancorp, Inc., ("Sovereign") (NYSE: SOV), is the parent
company of Sovereign Bank, a financial institution with $82 billion in
assets as of June 30, 2007 with principal markets in the Northeast United
States. Sovereign Bank has nearly 750 community banking offices, over 2,250
ATMs and approximately 12,000 team members. Sovereign offers a broad array
of financial services and products including retail banking, business and
corporate banking, cash management, capital markets, wealth management and
insurance. Sovereign is the 18th largest banking institution in the United
States. For more information on Sovereign Bank, 1-877-SOV-BANK.
SOURCE Sovereign Bank
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Related links:
http://www.sovereignbank.com
CONTACT:
D.J. Murphy of Sovereign Bank,
+1-617-757-5513, dmurphy1@sovereignbank.com
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