1. CheckImage Collaborative Communications Work Group
Key Messages:
Paper checks are being transitioned to electronic images of checks at a pace that is unprecedented. Check images are currently collected in two forms, as substitute checks and as check images.
Substitute checks assist in evolving traditional paper check clearing to image-based clearing. As a precursor to full check image exchange, the number of substitute checks is a positive indication of the acceptance of image exchange.
On an average day during June 2008, almost 11,000 institutions received almost 41 million check images for posting. These total 10.6 billion checks per year and $12.9 trillion. Also, another 13.5 million checks per day that were sent as images and delivered to paying institutions as substitute checks. These totaled 3.4 billion checks per year and $4.6 trillion.
This CheckImage Collaborative image clearing report reflects transactions settled through the Federal Reserve, PaymentsNation (formerly NCHA), SVPCO and local / regional exchanges. When the same payments were cleared through two or more of these organizations, those payments were counted only once.
The 2007 Federal Reserve’s Payments Study shows that the volume of checks (both written and paid) continue to be larger than debit card, credit card or ACH transactions. The report also shows that the dollar amount of checks increased from 2003 to 2006 from $40 to $41.7 trillion.

2. Average # of Images Received /Day3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39
Highlights:
Chart reflects volume received by DFIs for payment from other DFIs or an intermediary.
Average daily image volume grew from .08 to 38.9 million from Quarter to Quarter
Quarter volume annualized is 10.6 billion images received per year. Based on the Fed’s 2007 Payments Study this is 35% of all checks paid in 2006.
Average # of
Images Received
/Day
38.9 Million Images / Day
# Items in Millions
Data Sources:
Transactions settled through the Federal Reserve, PaymentsNation, SVPCO and other local / regional exchanges
Qtr 1 '05
Qtr 2 '05
Qtr 3 '05
Qtr 4 '05
Qtr 1 '06
Qtr 2 '06
Qtr 3 '06
Qtr 4 '06
Qtr 1 '07
Qtr 2 '07
Qtr 3 '07
Qtr 4 '07
Qtr 1 '08
Qtr 2 '08

3. Number of R/Ts Receiving
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
10,000
11,000
12,000
13,000
14,000
15,000
Highlights:
Chart reflects volume received by DFIs for payment from other DFIs or an intermediary.
Number of receiving R/Ts at the end of the quarter grew from 1,687 to 15,324 from Quarter to Quarter
15,324 routing transit numbers represents almost 10,967 institutions or approximately 68% of all U. S. institutions that received check images.
Number of R/Ts
Receiving
Images
Image Receiving R/Ts 15,324
# of R/Ts Receiving Images
Data Sources:
Transactions settled through the Federal Reserve, PaymentsNation, SVPCO and other local / regional exchanges
Qtr 1 '05
Qtr 2 '05
Qtr 3 '05
Qtr 4 '05
Qtr 1 '06
Qtr 2 '06
Qtr 3 '06
Qtr 4 '06
Qtr 1 '07
Qtr 2 '07
Qtr 3 '07
Qtr 4 '07
Qtr 1 '08
Qtr 2 '08

4. $ Amounts of Images & Substitute Checks $ Amounts in Billions $4,500$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
$4,500
Highlights:
All checks were imaged before reconversion to substitute checks.
Chart reflects checks received by DFIs for payment from other DFIs or an intermediary.
The quarterly dollar amount received grew from $204.8 billion to $4.4 trillion.
Annualized Quarter dollar amount = $17.6 trillion/yr.
$17.6 trillion is 42% of the total dollars cleared via check. payments.
$ Amounts of Images
& Substitute Checks
Forward Collection Only
$ Amounts in Billions
Data Sources:
Transactions settled through the Federal Reserve, PaymentsNation, SVPCO and other local / regional exchanges
Qtr 1 '05
Qtr 2 '05
Qtr 3 '05
Qtr 4 '05
Qtr 1 '06
Qtr 2 '06
Qtr 3 '06
Qtr 4 '06
Qtr 1 '07
Qtr 2 '07
Qtr 3 '07
Qtr 4 '07
Qtr 1 '08
Qtr 2 '08

5. $ Amounts of Images $ Amounts in Billions $3,000 $2,500 $2,000 $1,500$0
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
Highlights:
Chart reflects images checks received by DFIs for payment from other DFIs or an intermediary.
The quarterly dollar amount of images received grew from $1.7 billion to $3.2 trillion.
Annualized Quarter dollar amount = $12.9 trillion/yr.
$12.9 trillion is 31% of the total dollars cleared via check and is about 4.5 times the sum of all debit card and credit card payments.
$ Amounts of Images
Forward Collection Only
$ Amounts in Billions
Data Sources:
Transactions settled through the Federal Reserve, PaymentsNation, SVPCO and other local / regional exchanges
Qtr 1 '05
Qtr 2 '05
Qtr 3 '05
Qtr 4 '05
Qtr 1 '06
Qtr 2 '06
Qtr 3 '06
Qtr 4 '06
Qtr 1 '07
Qtr 2 '07
Qtr 3 '07
Qtr 4 '07
Qtr 1 '08
Qtr 2 '08