Cutting Through the Illusion of Unbankability

January 13, 2012

Kerridge International, a firm specializing in check and ID fraud prevention, is rolling out what it describes as a "mini bank branch in a box" that makes it easy and affordable for financial institutions to reach unbanked populations.

Called SWORD (for Scanned with Optical Recognition Devices), this new "consumer assisted" terminal supports basic banking functions, including account opening, card issuance, bill payments and remittances. It's highly secure, as it is supported by multitple databases that ensure compliance with government regulations (such as money laundering reporting rules) and other sophisticated fraud tools.

"SWORD is a proxy bank and network processing engine designed to be white labled for YOUR BRAND to provide retail banking services to both unbanked an traditional markets at very low cost," the company states.

Here are key features of and functions available through SWORD:

• It has easy to use touchscreens that walk bank tellers/operators through the data entry process;
• It can be used to scan, image and validate customer IDs;
• SWORD terminals simplify opening processes for FDIC-insured deposit accounts;
• The terminals support remote check deposits, as well as
• Instant-issuance of photo ID debit cards, and
• Prepaid cards; and
• NFC-based (near field communicatrions) mobile banking and payments.

Americans borrow about $40 billion a year from payday lenders

_{-Federal Reserve}