business

In August 2009 I wrote about USAA offering their depositors the ability to use their iPhones to deposit checks from the comfort of their home or wherever they may be.  The technology allows people to be free of the tedious chore of going to their bank to cash their checks.  It also allows them to have more freedom to go further with their bank, business wise.

A few days ago on Slashdot, the story re-emerged.  This time with more banks joining up on the offering for their customers.  The report doesn’t say when the ability will be available to their customers but it will be soon.

Applications to do just that are already available for Apple’s iPhone and other gadgets from USAA, a company that provides insurance and banking mainly for military veterans. Chase, Bank of America and Citibank are among the banks planning to release similar applications this year.

This is now happening thanks to government legislation and maturing technologies.  The specific technology to be used is called remote-deposit capture.

Here’s how it works. When you take a picture of a check, a computer that receives the image looks for the amount, the check number and the digits on the bottom with information on the check writer’s account number and the bank’s routing number. A photo of the back of the check verifies that it’s been signed by the recipient.

A banking clearinghouse then routes the funds from the check writer’s account to that of the recipient. That also prevents the same check from being deposited multiple times.

Of course, this is in the USA.  Where laws exist to enable the use of such technology.  What about the Philippines?  Do we have laws for this?  Existing or in the works?  I don’t know.  Our politicians are more interested in turf fighting and primping themselves for mass adulation and self mortification right now.