On the web:

• MissionFish changes name to PayPal Giving Fund - Third Sector
• Shazam Launches Debit Card App for Smartphones and Tablets - American Banker
• European Stripe Clone 'Paymill' Raises $13M - TechCrunch

On the wires:

• Fujitsu Integrates Mobile and the In-Store Shopping Experience With the U-Shop Mobile Application
• WorldPay US to Enable PayPal In-Store Checkout for Business Owners
• Canadian Payments Association Issues RFC on Final Checking Imaging Rules

Check fraud seems so old fashioned these days. But as this story points out, "these hackers got the account information in an unusual way: They broke into three websites that specialize in a little-known type of business — archiving check images online."

Terri Bradford, Payments System Research Specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has published a paper titled "A Backward Glance While Looking Forward" looking at some of the new payments products and technologies introduced over the last 10 years: check conversion, person-to-person payments, account aggregation, and electronic bill presentment and payment,

NCR has launched "a new web-based service for easier and faster management and processing of envelope-free deposits at ATMs. With Intelligent Deposit ATMs already making up more than 70 percent of its 2008 U.S. SelfServ ATM orders, NCR believes its new service – NCR APTRA Deposit Gateway – will significantly help the next wave of financial institutions move to image-based ATMs. NCR APTRA Deposit Gateway is a web-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that enables financial institutions to perform check image processing for envelope-free deposits made at the ATM." READ MORE »

The SVPCO Image Payments Network has announced it exchanged a record 5.6 billion check images in 2008, up 97% from 2.8 billion images in 2007. For all of 2008, dollar volume also hit an all-time high of $8.5 trillion, up 71% from $5 trillion in 2007. The number of institutions exchanging images also rose to an all-time high of 44 in 2008, up from 24 in 2007. The SVPCO Image Payments Network began operations in January 2005. READ MORE »

Wells Fargo has announced it has increased its volume of electronic payments with other financial institutions by clearing checks through image exchange with Fiserv Solutions. READ MORE »

BankServ has announced that its DepositNow remote deposit service has added the capability for small businesses to be paid directly from emailed invoices. READ MORE »

Viewpointe has released research on the decision-making processes associated with outsourcing check image archives - including an industry whitepaper titled "In-House or Outsourced Image Archive Services: Plotting Position and Course'' that was developed with the independent research firm Financial Insights. Viewpointe has also released a Customer Experience Profile with BB&T Corporation chronicling the bank's results derived from outsourcing its check image archive to Viewpointe. READ MORE »

SVPCO, the paper and electronic check exchange business of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C., reports that the SVPCO Image Payments Network set records for both monthly items and dollar value in June 2008. READ MORE »

The CheckImage Collaborative has announced the creation of a Universal Companion Document (UCD) which establishes a uniform industry approach for populating and validating check image files. Since the implementation of the Check Clearing Act for the 21st Century (Check 21) in October 2004, the banking industry has been rapidly transforming from a paper-based check clearing structure to an image-based system with nearly half of all checks paid cleared as images today. Ongoing interoperability issues have impacted the industry's ability to realize the full value of check image clearing. One of the biggest obstacles to true interoperability has been the use of the check image file format standard. The creation of the UCD establishes a consistent approach for all industry participants to use when processing check image files. READ MORE »

Viewpointe has announced that Fifth Third Bank will begin using Viewpointe's Pointe2Pointe solution for check image exchange.

Mitek Systems has announced ImageNet Mobile Deposit, calling it "the first mobile banking software that allow banks to accept paper check deposits and bill payments via camera-equipped mobile phones." Mitek will demonstrate ImageNet Mobile Deposit in booth #225 at the BAI-TransPay show beginning February 5, 2008 in Dallas at the Gaylord Grapevine Resort.

Fiserv and Viewpointe have announced that Fiserv will use the Viewpointe archive to expand its current image storage offerings to its 1,600 check processing clients. According to Viewpointe, "as an archive user, Fiserv joins several of the nation's largest financial institutions in having access to the most robust common archive in the industry. Fiserv will continue to use its current image archive for delivery of products such as image statements, CD/ROMs and DVDs."

SVPCO has announced that its monthly image items and dollar volume grew strongly in September compared to a year ago - processing 255.3 million in total monthly items, a 218.3% increase compared to a year ago representing $427.8 billion in total monthly dollar value, a 119.9% increase compared to a year ago.

In an article titled 'Fewer Folks Getting Out Checkbooks', Michael Coit writes about the move away from the use of checks. "At Bank of the West, the fifth largest bank in California, check volumes have been cut in half since 1990 to 45 percent of all non-cash transactions today."

NetDeposit has announced "it has been awarded two new patents, Nos. 7,181,430 and 7,216,106, from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for the processes and technologies involved in remote electronic presentment of all types of checks. The patents cover NetDeposit's array of software products and services, which enable electronic check presentment and payment."

Unisys has announced it will design and help implement a new electronic check and image processing system in a consulting, software and hardware agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, acting on behalf of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks.

Wells Fargo has announced the launch of Returned Item & Deposit Details, an enhancement to its Wells Fargo Business Online Banking service. According to the bank, "with this rollout, Wells Fargo is one of the first major U.S. financial institutions to offer small- to mid-sized business customers access to electronic images of returned items, as well as an array of other electronic images, including cleared checks and deposited checks - as part of its online banking service."

Brink’s U.S. and Metavante have announced the launch of Metavante’s Sendpoint distributed image capture service to Brinks’ cash vaults across the country. Metavante’s Sendpoint service provides for the remote image capture and image exchange of deposits and payments received from Brink's Vaults, accelerating deposit capture from receipt through posting and presentment.

SVPCO, the check image and paper check business of The Clearing House Payments Company L.L.C., has announced that its average daily check image items and dollar value exceeded its paper check items and dollar value for the first time in its history during April.

SVPCO - Electronic Clearing Services, the electronic check and check image exchange business of The Clearing House Payments Company, has announced that The Bank of New York is now participating in the SVPCO Image Payments Network.

In a report titled "Report to the Congress on the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act of 2003" (PDF), the Federal Reserve reports "on the effect of the Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act on the nation's check-collection system. Assesses the need for modifications to the funds-availability requirements established in and pursuant to the Expedited Funds Availability Act (EFAA). Based on the Board's extensive survey of the banking industry and supplemented with other information from official and industry sources."

Endpoint Exchange LLC, a Metavante company, and SVPCO – Electronic Clearing Services, the electronic check and check image exchange business of The Clearing House Payments Company LLC, have announced that member financial institutions of both systems can now exchange check data and images.

SVPCO has announced that the total number of check images and the dollar value hit an all-time high in March reaching a total of 177.4 million in total monthly items, a 507% increase compared to a year ago. March's volumes totaled $333.8 billion in total monthly dollar value from an average of 8 million daily items.

Fiserv has announced it is now exchanging checks with Bank of America through Viewpointe, a provider of check image exchange and archive services in the United States. The agreement enables Bank of America to connect to thousands of endpoints on the Fiserv Clearing Network, while allowing other Fiserv customers to exchange images directly with Bank of America.

DataTreasury Corporation has announced a worldwide licensing agreement with Diebold for the use of four of the company's financial transaction patents relating to "technologies involved in the electronic processing of checks and other financial instruments and include claims related to the capture, transmission, encryption, storing and retrieval of electronic images generated from these types of documents."

Mercator Advisory Group has published a new report titled "Commercial Capture Solutions" that examines the rapid growth in check image deposits last year and the increasing use of check images for inter-bank transfers.

TowerGroup has published a new report titled "Check 21 in 2007: The Year of Image Exchange" on bank adoption of Check 21 - predicting that 2007 will be the first year in which monthly check image exchange volumes surpass paper check presentment volumes.

SVPCO-Electronic Clearing Services has reported that the number of check images exchanged in 2006 soared 15-fold compared to 2005, while the dollar value jumped 5-fold year-over-year.

Eastman Kodak has announced a new check processing solution and strategic relationship with CFC Technology Corporation that is "designed to help organizations of all sizes take advantage of Check 21 benefits, allowing for businesses to remotely scan their incoming checks, which is a far more cost effective way to handle business deposits."