Michael Pratt, Chief Marketing Officer, Panini North America It’s no secret the state of the economy is less than favorable and banks have been affected just as much as, if not more than, anyone. In this section, Michael will provide insights to how Remote Deposit Capture can help our nation’s banks and corporations come out ahead.

What does RDC have to do with a poor economy?

MP: Remote Deposit Capture is a deposit growth opportunity when your competitors may be weakened. Businesses are looking for solutions now more than ever given the rough economic conditions. RDC is a way for banks to add value to resource constrained businesses by saving them time with the elimination of physical trips to the branch, saving them money with reduced transportation and labor costs, creating value with better funds availability, and providing an opportunity to consolidate their banking relationships, saving them even more money.

Is the RDC market still attractive in this economic condition?

MP: Yes. According to Celent, only 2% of the business market has adopted RDC, yet 53% are interested in adopting RDC. In a recent report, they’ve stated, “the RDC market still relatively untapped, with no indication of overstatement in earlier estimates of market opportunity — as many as 5MM capture points by 2014.”

What can banks do to capture a share of the RDC market?

MP: The use of creative marketing programs will help banks set themselves apart and capture a large share of the corporations that are ideal candidates for RDC. A few programs include:

• Use financial justification models to show RDC prospects how much they can save with RDC. Panini currently offers both an RDC and BOC model available to any interested bank or corporation.
• Show the customer how the solution works via case studies and demonstrations, and provide user references. This can be accomplished using video case studies featuring RDC users or application demos (Online and Onsite). Financial institutions and partners can visit www.panini.com to view examples.
• Advertising — in places you might not normally consider (AM radio, billboards, local market newspapers, small biz publications, accounting profession).

Are there any marketing programs currently implemented by banks that have demonstrated more success than others?

MP: Direct marketing, when implemented correctly, is a great program for targeting potential RDC customers. Banks must prioritize market segments. For example, from your customer DB, extract business customers. Then extract service-based businesses from this list since they are transaction intensive and have higher payment values from checks. Then extract firms with annual revenues of $1 to $10MM, since businesses of this size represent the segment most likely to adopt RDC. Then extract businesses already using a tech product from the bank (i.e. online banking). This is likely to represent your highest potential target list. Additionally, we’re seeing banks use external lists from sources such as NAICS, CFO Magazine, Entrepreneur, and INC. They are then offering something for free to encourage “opt in” then following up to close the sale.

Sales incentive programs are also yielding success for banks. They are using sales contests to stimulate and accelerate demand by establishing rewards based on the demographic profile of their sales teams. If your bank’s RDC product is relatively new, low threshold performance incentives will maximize participation. For relatively experienced sales teams selling RDC, a high value awards program for top performers may make the most sense.

Panini Invited to Participate in Two Prestigious Italian Workshops

ABI Lab, the Research and Development Consortium of Bank Technology promoted by the Italian Banking Association, invited Panini to participate in a workshop focused on the Bank Branch of the Future on October 20th in Milan. In early 2008, ABI Lab sponsored, and was actively involved, in the Panini International Design Contest “Share a New Vision: Redesign the Bank Branch of the Future,” inviting design students and professionals worldwide to “rethink” the bank branch to enhance the customers’ experience, with a special focus on functionality, ergonomics and design. The involvement of ABI Lab in the design contest as both a sponsor and member of the evaluation jury has led to a strong, continued relationship between Panini and the Consortium.

During the workshop, Valeria Panini, Managing Director, Panini, explained to the audience how the design contest achieved success, and Panini and ABI Lab plans for continuing collaboration on research into the bank of the future.

Panini Speaks at the Industrial Association Congress

Panini’s President, Ugo Panini, spoke at the “New Keys to the Success” convention organized by Unione Industriale Torino, the Employers’ Association of Turin, Italy, to an audience comprised of entrepreneurs, university professors and economic students. The convention was the first in a series of meetings dedicated to documenting successful business cases. Ugo explained how Panini became a worldwide market leader and highlighted the methods and strategies that drove the company to capitalize on new opportunities while implementing innovative technological and organizational procedures.

Upcoming

BAI TransPaySM Conference & Expo San Diego, CA February 23-25, 2009

Plan to be there for an exciting announcement from Panini!

Recap

BAI Retail Delivery 2008

Panini recently showcased the Vision X check scanner at the BAI Retail Delivery 2008 Conference & Expo in Orlando, Florida. Visitors received information on the newest Panini Vision X features including, state-of-the-art ultrasonic double document detection technology and the ability to read magnetic stripe data!

AFP Annual Conference

The Panini Vision X also dominated the show floor at the AFP Annual Conference. The newest check scanner from the market leader was featured in the following partner booths:

• BANKLINK
• BankServ
• BLM Technologies
• Fidelity FIS
• Goldleaf Financial Solutions
• J&B Software
• InStream
• Metavante
• NCR
• NetDeposit
• NewWave Technologies
• Open Solutions
• Jack Henry ProfitStars
• TASQ Technology
• Wausau Financial Systems

Panini Team Walks for a Cure
Company Supports Juvenile Research Diabetes Foundation (JDRF)

For the third year in a row, Panini participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) Walk to Cure Diabetes in Dayton, Ohio. Company employees organized and participated in multiple fundraising activities, including a bowling tournament and silent auction, to raise thousands of dollars, with Panini matching all funds raised by employees.

Sovereign Bank Enjoys Success with RDC Sales Contest

According to a recent Goldleaf study^[*], there are dramatic performance differences between banks that have made remote deposit capture a winning and aggressive business strategy versus those who treat RDC (Remote Deposit Capture) as a defensive necessity.

Sovereign Bank understands these principles. With the recent rollout of a sales contest sponsored by Panini, they are achieving even higher levels of new business success for Sovereign’s remote deposit capture service (Onsite Check Deposit™). "Sovereign instituted a sales contest to drive increased sales efforts among our Cash Management sales reps," says Paola Ordonez, Vice President, Sovereign Bank. "The contest that we implemented with Panini has notably improved Onsite Check Deposit™ sales results."

The objective of the sales contest was to accelerate the bank’s growth of their RDC service, as well as to expand revenue and profitability. Sovereign has steadily increased their RDC customer deployments during the months of July, August, September and October.

Celent, a leading research and consulting firm in the global financial services industry, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Oliver Wyman, a leading global research and consulting firm, recently published a Remote Deposit Capture (RDC) report providing a comprehensive analysis of RDC adoption and solution evolution.

This section provides a brief overview of the powerful report which, for the third consecutive year, confirms Panini as the market leader in distributed capture; shipping the most check scanners in the market based on CY 2007 results.

State of Remote Deposit Capture 2008: Sprint Becomes a Marathon
Report Published by Celent

Over 3,000 new implementations will result in an estimated 7,200 RDC-deploying financial institutions through 2008, according to a new report State of Remote Deposit Capture 2008: Sprint Becomes a Marathon. The resulting client adoption resulted in an estimated 382,000 users/scanners by year-end 2008, a 72% year over year growth.

“Celent finds the RDC market still relatively untapped, with no indication of overstatement in earlier estimates of market opportunity, as many as 5 million capture points by 2014,” says Bob Meara, author of the report and senior analyst with Celent’s Banking Group. "What is now clear, however, is that realization of the market opportunity will take longer than originally thought, particularly considering the tumultuous condition of the US financial services industry."

Among the 382,000 users, the past year has seen remarkable remote deposit capture solution adoption with midsize banks, community banks, and credit unions. By the end of 2008, two-thirds of all US banks and 40% of all US financial institutions will have adopted RDC.

The 74-page report contains 25 figures and 22 tables. A table of contents is available online.