Empire Bank adds first remote depository

Empire Bank in November installed an automated teller machine at 219 Park Central South, at the Kresge building, and it has a unique feature: a nighttime depository box for commercial customers.

This depository is the first of its kind for Empire. The bank, like most others, offers nighttime depository boxes at every bank branch, but a remote depository is less common, according to bank officials, because of extra costs associated with installation of the night depository with a remote ATM and collection of deposits.

Shelly Titus, senior vice president and retail banking manager for Empire, said it’s not clear yet how utilized the new ATM’s depository will be, but she said if the growth of downtown is any indication, it should be a popular option for commercial customers.

“With the growing number of small businesses in the downtown area, that will be more convenient for them than having to go to a branch that’s farther out,” she said, adding that noncommercial customers will have the convenience of the ATM during downtown events such as First Friday Art Walk.

“We placed this ATM in downtown Springfield to support the revitalization of that area,” Titus added.

Commercial customers who want to use Empire’s ATM depository will set up accounts through the bank’s Hammons Tower branch at 901 St. Louis St., Titus said.

They will be given keys to access the depository, enabling them to drop off their deposits anytime.

Titus would not disclose the number of customers who have signed up to use the depository or usage figures for the ATM since it opened in the fall, but so far, she said feedback has been positive.

Empire does not have immediate plans to open additional ATM nighttime depositories, but Titus said the bank is always scouting for new ATM locations.

A dying breed?

While Empire’s ATM depository may be a bonus for downtown customers, it doesn’t exactly speak to what the industry says is a decreasing demand for nighttime depository services.

Many banks, including Empire, now offer remote deposit capture, an electronic system that allows commercial customers to submit deposits from their offices, instead of at the bank.

Checks are scanned in and sent digitally to the bank.

That, along with a declining use of cash and checks in the marketplace, has made nighttime depository boxes less needed.

John Cox, retail administration manager for Commerce Bank, says a falling demand for depository boxes is inevitable, but the need won’t disappear.

“Will the volume (of nighttime depository deposits) go down? Absolutely. But will we be able to say we won’t do this anymore? I don’t think so,” he said. “Our customers will demand it.”

The reason, Cox said, is that businesses will always have cash and checks to deposit, because there will always be a segment of people who prefer to pay with those methods, instead of the more popular credit and debit cards.

“As long as cash and other valuables like cash are in play, there will always be a need for businesses who want to secure it overnight,” Cox said. “Going into the future as far out as I can imagine, we would continue to have (nighttime depositories).”

Commerce offers nighttime depositories at all of its bank branches, as well as in Battlefield Mall for the mall’s merchants.

Empire’s Titus also sees a perpetual need for the service.

“Certainly with electronic banking and the imaging of deposits, that’s going to change the scope of how businesses do business,” she said. “We’re trying to provide multiple channels to meet differing business customers’ preferences.”[[In-content Ad]]