Nationwide outsources cheque processing

Nationwide Building Society has signed a business process outsourcing (BPO) deal with Unisys to take on its cheque processing function.

The agreement is part of a wider seven-year BPO contract awarded in December 2007.

silicon.com Financial Services

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According to Nationwide's group operations director, David Rigney, the deal has meant the building society has avoided the costs of carrying out a technology refresh of its cheque-clearing infrastructure and delivers predictable costs up until 2015, as cheque volumes across banking are expected to fall by more than 50 per cent over the next eight to 10 years.

One benefit for the building society is staff have access to an online archive for cheques.

In a statement to silicon.com, he said: "Nationwide will be able to benefit from the application of industry best practice to its clearing operations and shared participation in the implementation of any cheque and credit clearing initiatives, or future regulatory changes affecting cheque clearing."

The migration of the process to Unisys was started as soon as the BPO deal was signed in December 2007 and completed by December 2008.