Aite Group releases a report today predicting that check electronification will increase to 75% of checks issued by 2012. The report forecasts that the over all number of checks written will steadily decrease, but that an increasing percentage of checks written will clear electronically. These findings underscore the industry emphasis on turning paper checks into electronic transactions rather than eliminating check transactions in the first place.

Nancy Atkinson, senior analyst at Aite Group and author of the report, observes

The nature of check processing is changing rapidly, and though a number of electronic instruments will dramatically reduce the number of paper checks processed for clearing and settlement, billions of paper checks will still be written each year.

Financial institutions need to seriously consider their time of entry, as early adopters tend to pay additional costs for technological and operational challenges. However, there is no doubt that all financial institutions will eventually need to migrate to ACH conversion or check truncation, though most likely both.

The Magical Disappearing Check or the "Prestige"
Aite Group
Boston, MA, October 8, 2007