Cheque printing system meets new laws

Nipson's production digital presses featuring MICReady are claimed to offer a fast, cost effective and seamless method of integrating Check 21 compliant printing into any printing operation.

Nipson's production digital presses featuring MICReady are claimed to offer a fast, cost effective and seamless method of integrating Check 21 compliant printing into any printing operation.

Check 21 is a US federal law replacing paper cheque transfers between banks with electronic transfers.

If a receiving bank requires a paper cheque, the bank must use the electronic image to print a substitute check.

The substitute cheque must be printed using Magnetic Image Character Recognition (MICR) ink or toner.

The new law, which became effective on October 28, is expected to create an upsurge in demand for digital MICR printing from cheque processing centres, inplant printers, service bureaux and commercial printers.

Nipson's MICReady systems allow printers to integrate MICR print into standard digital printing without the need to change to more expensive toner, adjust equipment, or change parts.

And at claimed speeds of up to 410 feet per minute, Nipson's Varypress can produce 2,690 cheques per minute, making it the fastest MICR printing system in the world said Nipson.

In addition to Check 21 markets, Nipson's MICReady is said to be suitable for printers looking for flexible digital printing that can serve many markets without the need for lengthy and expensive changeovers.

With MICReady, Nipson presses can produce cheques on their own, cheques within direct mail promotional pieces, as well as insurance forms, bank statements, and other transactional documents.

Printers can also service non-MICR applications without additional cost or loss of productivity claimed the company.

"MICReady offers printers the flexibility needed to answer the demand created by Check 21 as well as other markets for variable data MICR and non-MICR printing.

Maximizing the types of applications one can print while minimising downtime and cost is the formula for success that Nipson delivers to the printing industry," said Alfons Buts, managing director of Nipson Digital Printing Systems.

He added that MICReady is also fully compatible with E13B and CMC7 standards used throughout the world and said that Nipson has also recently obtained APACS (Association for Payment Clearing Services)approval for this technology.APACS sets the standard for UK cheque printing, which is also used globally.

The approval broadens the scope of applications and geographic areas that MICReady can serve.

To make it possible, Nipson developed toner reformulation and newly designed print heads.

Although Nipson presses have been previously MICR by default, MICReady encompasses a much broader range of applications and geographic regions in which it can be adopted said the company.

Check 21 is designed to foster innovation in the payments system and to enhance its efficiency by reducing some of the legal impediments to cheque truncation.

The law facilitates check truncation by creating a new negotiable instrument called a substitute cheque, which would permit banks to truncate original cheque, to process check information electronically, and to deliver substitute cheques to banks and account owners that want to continue receiving paper cheques.

A substitute cheque would be the legal equivalent of the original cheque and would include all the information contained on the original cheque.

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