Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank recently executed three key automation projects, including the launch of automated lockbox products that deliver check payments to a business or individual’s designated address.

“Despite online payment options and [the Automated Clearing House], physical checks remain a very popular form of payment,” Jude Schramm, chief information officer, told Bank Automation News.

The $211 billion bank has installed high-speed automation engines for check processing, which drive efficiency and limit the number of checks that need to be manually reviewed and processed, Schramm explained.

“Our automation efforts are dramatically reducing manual processing and increasing throughput,” he said.

Fraudulent sites detective

To combat the growing issue of fraud, Fifth Third has developed an automation that identifies fraudulent copycat websites and sends takedown notices to the hosting company, Schramm said.

Copycat websites are designed to mimic legitimate sites to urge users to provide their bank login credentials.

“Our automations decipher the website or source and send a takedown notice to add protections to our customers who may receive these attempts to scam them into providing user credentials,” Schramm noted.

Customer recommendation tool

Fifth Third also has developed an automated recommendation engine for both mobile and online banking that is designed to provide insights into products and services based on a customer’s product preferences, according to Schramm.

“This has been well-received by customers,” he said.

In addition to new automations, Fifth Third has continued its cloud migration journey begun in 2018, most recently working to migrate its mobile app to the cloud before the end of this year. 

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