Sabadell United Bank Integrates Signature Fraud Detection Solution from SQN, Parascript

LONGMONT, Colo. and RANCOCAS, N.J., March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Parascript, LLC, the image analysis and pattern recognition technology provider, and SQN Banking Systems, a provider of integrated fraud detection and process improvement products for the financial industry, today announced that Sabadell United Bank, headquartered in Miami, has implemented SQN's SENTRY: SigCheck™ automated signature verification system with Parascript's signature authentication software.

"At Sabadell United Bank, we looked at numerous alternatives to help improve and optimize the signature verification process. We found SENTRY: SigCheck with Parascript's signature verification technology to be the best automated solution, directly addressing the needs of our bank, and selected it because of its high accuracy and short item processing time," said Marisela Del Valle, senior vice president for Sabadell United Bank.

The integrated solution allows the bank to run checks through the SigCheck filter, and compare against the actual signature on the signature card, in instances where the customer signature is suspicious. Before selecting SENTRY: SigCheck with Parascript's SignatureXpert®, Sabadell United manually examined signatures; employees had to compare a signature card against each individual check presented for payment.

The new, more automated process, employing SENTRY: SigCheck with Parascript's SignatureXpert, has resulted in greater accuracy, and operational and staffing efficiencies. The integrated signature verification system identifies signature irregularities when compared against the referenced signature on the signature card or on previously captured and filtered checks. Additionally SENTRY: SigCheck offers many user-defined options. The bank was able to select the length of time used for historical signature comparison, for example.

"By combining Parascript's signature verification software with SQN's SENTRY: SigCheck, we are providing banks and financial institutions with an outstanding, integrated fraud prevention solution, increasing accuracy and efficiency, and significantly lowering  processing costs," said Joe Uhland, president of SQN Banking Systems.

SQN's SigCheck takes on-us check images, extracts one or more signatures from the check, depending on the associated signing rules, and verifies the signatures using Parascript's SignatureXpert to prevent fraud. SignatureXpert leverages artificial intelligence and exploits the most comprehensive and advanced methods available in the art of signature verification. Automatic comparison is executed by a powerful combination of verifiers. In particular, the technology combines a human-like holistic analysis of a signature and signature segmentation with a subsequent analysis of the signature elements and characteristics. Parascript's signature verification technology is currently being used in Brazil, Russia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United States, and Zimbabwe, among other countries.

"We are proud of our partnership with SQN and our ability to offer banks a powerful solution to detect and prevent signature forgeries on check images," said Mike Fenton, vice president of sales and operations for Parascript. "The application at Sabadell United is another great example of how our signature verification solution offers immediate benefits, not only in fraud prevention, but in labor cost savings as well."

About Sabadell United Bank

Sabadell United is headquartered in Miami, Florida.  The bank is devoted to providing business and personal banking services to professionals, entrepreneurs, and their companies whose banking needs require a sophisticated degree of attention and service. The bank serves more than 27,800 clients in the South Florida area with twenty offices in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, with $2.1 billion in deposits and $2.4 billions in assets. Sabadell United offers a broad array of sophisticated services of a world-class financial institution. These services, along with a high level of personal attention, set Sabadell United apart in South Florida. The relationship Sabadell United has with its parent company – Banco Sabadell – encourages creativity and imagination while seeking solutions to customer needs. This enables its professionals to react quickly when prompt action is required in order to take advantage of business opportunities. As part of the Banco Sabadell Group, Sabadell United is supported by the expertise and resources of a leading international financial group. For additional information please access the website, http://www.sabadellunited.com.

About SQN Banking Systems

For more than 20 years, SQN Banking Systems has provided integrated fraud detection and process improvement products for the financial industry, meeting the needs of financial institutions of all sizes. The SENTRY suite of products includes software for exception item processing, image fraud detection tools, automated signature comparison, signature verification and display, transaction analysis and safe deposit operations management. More than 500 SQN customers have improved their earnings and reduced check fraud losses by as much as 84 percent with SENTRY. For more information, visit SQN's Web site at http://www.sqnbankingsystems.com.

About Parascript, LLC

The Parascript image analysis suite extracts meaningful information from images. Employing patented digital image analysis and pattern recognition technologies, the Parascript image analysis suite improves decision quality in medical imaging, postal and payment automation, fraud detection, and forms processing operations. Parascript software processes over 100 billion imaged documents per year. Fortune 500 companies, postal operators, major government, and financial institutions rely on Parascript products. Organizations include the U.S. Postal Service, Böwe Bell + Howell, Fiserv, Elsag, Lockheed Martin, NCR, Siemens, and Burroughs. Parascript is online at http://www.parascript.com.

SOURCE Parascript, LLC