FedForward®, FedReceipt® FedReceipt Plus,
FedReturn® Case Study
Commerce Bank
Published: January 2007
“The expanded services we have been able to offer as a result of
implementing Federal Reserve Check 21 solutions have enabled our
operation areas to support the new store openings and the
continued growth of 55+ stores per year.”
—Marilyn Faust
Commerce Bank NA
Customer Profile
Established in 1973, Commerce Bank is a $45 billion east coast retail banking organization with more
than 400 locations (stores) from Connecticut to Florida. Commerce Bank employs more than 14,000
individuals and is headquartered in New Jersey. The organization moved to image POD in 2005,
implemented FedReturn service in November of that year, and FedForward and FedReceipt in January
2006.
Business Challenge
“As Commerce Bank’s footprint continued to grow up and down the east coast, the distance between
our stores and processing center expanded as well,” explains Marilyn Faust, vice president. With that
distance came increased transportation costs as growth in each marketplace segment grew. “But the
bigger challenge came in meeting the deposit deadlines for funds availability while keeping our stores
open until 6 p.m. for same day ledger credit (8 p.m. in Florida). Internal deadlines existed that required
us to meet an 11:30 p.m. posting deadline to meet the demands of our customer base.” Commerce
had been processing more than 1.1 million items a day for its customers who were interested in their
balances in the early morning hours.
“We employed the Federal Reserve’s best mix of paper deposit products…Mixed Cash Letters, Group
Sorts and Fine Sorts…to maximize our funds availability for our customers,” Greg Snell, director of
transaction services, explains. “And we did some selective Same Day Settlement sends. But our
availability rate still only averaged a little better than 72%.” Commerce knew that something had to be
done differently if they were to continue to grow their business according