Customer Testimonials

All institutions need to comply with the FACT Act legislation by 11/1/2008. After reviewing the FIS FACT Act Compliance Solution, PennEast decided to utilize QualiFile^®, ID Verification and add Address Analysis to their existing operations. With help from FIS, PennEast has been able to:

Build their FACT Act compliance program months before the deadline
Automate manual processes to increase operational efficiency
Protect members and their bottom line from fraud
Serve members faster and better

“With the current regulatory environment, we have a system that will help us stay compliant. Address Analysis, part of the FIS Fact Act solution, is very easy to use. In the past, we had to do everything manually for auditors. Now, auditors can look at the accounts they want to review then pull up the recordsthemselves.“

Charlene Jeffers, PennEast Federal Credit Union

The goal of the Amalgamated team was to grow their retail business by opening new checking accounts and build on those relationships by offering superior service and selling additional products. With help from FIS, today, Amalgamated can:

Offer accounts to the greatest number of applicants while tailoring offers based on risk.
Understand the risk any one consumer poses.
Ensure policies are followed throughout the organization.
Automate processes to increase operational efficiency

We are now approving 95 percent of inquiries. In fact, we’re spending less, doing it faster and getting a higher approval rating than we were one year ago.

Joe Tansey, First Vice President of New York, Amalgamated Bank

Identity theft protection is a hot consumer button. With ID Protection Service we have the solution that gives our customers peace of mind knowing that they are doing all that they can.

Katie Schwindt, Retail Delivery Administrator, Beneficial Savings Bank

We offer a tremendous amount of value by providing our customers with an ID Protection Service subscription. By helping to shut down fraudsters, we are a force for good in our community.

Merle Brown, VP Community Banking & Security Officer, Beneficial Savings Bank

It’s the ‘what if’ factor. The real benefit is that if one of our customers becomes an identity theft, they already have in place a full recovery service and reimbursement program for up to $25,000. With ID Protection Service, the financial and emotional damage is contained.

Katie Schwindt, Retail Delivery Administrator, Beneficial Savings Bank

I have evaluated other solutions. I can conclude that ID Production Service provides the most value and yet is the most affordable identity theft protection and recovery solution.

Merle Brown, VP Community Banking & Security Officer, Beneficial Savings Bank

QualiFile is key to our commitment to mitigate risk and open accounts that drive revenue for Fifth Third. By integrating QualiFile with our automation platform, we expect to increase our deposit account openings and improve cross selling of products throughout our bank.

Patrick Ziller, Senior Vice President, Retail Operations at Fifth Third Bank

We knew we needed to do something with the PATRIOT Act so we evaluated a number of services. In the end, we found that the comprehensive service offered by FIS was easy to use, and returned information that enabled us to make accurate account opening decisions. I don't think I'd want to be in this environment without ID Verification. Initially, we made this decision based on a compliance need, but we have seen even bigger uses and benefits. The cost is reasonable, and it has made verifying identities easy.

Linda Healy, Blue Ball National Bank's Senior Vice President and Regional Branch Administrator

We just had our first FDIC exam since the USA PATRIOT Act enactment and are very pleased that we implemented ID Verification for Section 326, 314(a) and OFAC compliance. Deploying ID Verification demonstrates how important we view compliance and gave a sense that our institution has the diligence to ensure that all of our programs are as comprehensive and well-done. I simply gave our examiner a password and he was able to easily check the depth and accuracy of our entire CIP program from identity verifications to OFAC screenings to how we document our transactions. Because of ID Verification, our exam went smoothly and was a painless process.

Monte Small, Senior Vice President, Harrison County Bank

It is very beneficial for our institution to have all our new account opening processes located in one place. Through ID Verification, we can verify the identity of prospective customers, screen government lists, and record our transactional data. Then, if necessary, we can retrieve a credit report, a ChexSystems report, a Background Watch report or the Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) form.

Rhonda Hendrix, Pineland State Bank

At Bank Of Coushatta, we feel prepared for regulatory exams. We decided to deploy ID Verification over a documentary approach or other automated solutions because this tool offered the most comprehensive and cost-effective solution available for USA PATRIOT Act compliance and could be implemented within 24 hours throughout the bank. Furthermore, FIS offers excellent customer service that has produced superb results for our institution.

Ron Farrar, Vice President and Compliance Officer, Bank of Coushatta in Coushatta, Louisiana

It is critical for our bank to meet all required regulations of the USA PATRIOT Act and ID Verification enables complete compliance. However, we believe the real value of using ID Verification is the additional protection against our risk of identity fraud. Through the identity verification component of the solution, ID Verification cross checks the broadest data available and ensures that we have enough information to make correct decisions when opening new accounts. Furthermore, customer service is a differentiator for FIS. FIS’s willingness to listen to customers and take immediate action leads to a quality compliance solution and an excellent working relationship.

Maleka Ali, Vice President/Retail/BSA Officer, First Century Bank

FIS understands the needs and issues facing financial institutions today. I believe their USA PATRIOT Act compliance solution, ID Verification, is rapidly becoming the industry standard for excellence. Because of the completeness of the ID Verification solution, our bank has been compliant for some time. In addition, the FIS Team is very receptive to our suggestions and continues to add innovative features and integrate with other software to enable us to increase our operational efficiency.

Jim Binkowski, Senior Vice President of Operations, George Washington Savings Bank

At Citizens State Bank, we completed a thorough analysis of the various options available to us for PATRIOT Act Section 326, 314(a) and OFAC compliance. We found that using a documentary solution created too much risk for our institution and decided to use an automated solution to meet our regulatory obligations. After evaluating a variety of non-documentary options, Citizens State Bank determined that FIS’s ID Verification solution provides the most comprehensive, cost-effective and easy-to-use solution available in our industry.

Mary Rinkenberger, Compliance Officer, Citizens State Bank

We chose ID Verification for USA PATRIOT Act compliance because it is a simple solution for bank employees to use. The solution provides “pass” or “fail” answers for each identity verification and enables our bank to make correct new account decisions. When a failure occurs, the "Next Steps" feature gives frontline employees proven options to resolve any discrepancy.

Lee Swearingen, Sr. Vice President & Cashier, Bank of Little Rock

At Peoples National Bank, we had three distinct issues when evaluating the CIP requirements. We needed a solution that would add steps in the identity fraud prevention process, allow us to easily train employees and maintain the identity data to prove that the verifications were performed. FIS has been an answer to all of those problems. As well, ID Verification provides us with a cost effective solution for 326 compliance. For OFAC alone, the bank will save approximately $6,000 per year in data processing expense.

Jayma L. McGovern, Internal Auditor, Peoples National Bank

ID Verification enables our bank to provide quality service to our customers because it is simple for our employees to use and fast enough to streamline the verification process. Furthermore, ID Verification has the ability to integrate to other software systems which allows us to increase the efficiency of our operation.

Patty R. Wooten, The Peoples Bank

ID Verification is very user friendly and is the best solution available for ensuring my staff records all required 326 compliance information before a new account is opened. As well, the FIS team has been very open to my needs. They are focused on providing answers quickly to any questions I have.

Janet Olerich, Carroll County State Bank

Our bank has been very pleased with our choice of FIS’s ID Verification solution. The solution provides us with control to manage our compliance processes more efficiently. Conducting screens for OFAC and 314 (a) through ID Verification is very simple and saves us valuable time. In addition, I enjoy working with FIS because they provide personalized service and knowledgeable answers to any question I have.

Karen Herz, Compliance Officer, Bank of Bartlett

ID Verification ensures that we can evaluate any inconsistent information given by a prospective customer before we open a new account. We feel prepared for the new regulations and are ready for the auditors to arrive. Additionally, it is very convenient to have one location to conduct identity verifications, check OFAC lists and store our records.

Linda Ross, Vice President, Bank of Florida

At Farmers State Bank, we decided to implement ID Verification for our USA PATRIOT Act solution because it provided an easy-to-use and flexible compliance tool that allowed our institution to be completely compliant with the new regulations while also increasing the efficiency of our operation. We are have pleased with the performance of the solution and the customer service that we have received from FIS.

Anita Schafer, Farmers State Bank in Holton, Kansas

As part of complying with Section 326, it is important that the people conducting identity verifications have accurate and up-to-date knowledge about ID Verification. FIS’s training program provides detailed information about the solution and ensures that my team has the skills to put that knowledge into practice.

Angela Lampley, Compliance Coordinator, Bank of Herrin

While working at Flag Bank, we utilized the ID Verification system since its inception. After using the ID Verification system, I cannot believe how much time and effort we save. In addition, with the assistance of FIS's experienced management, we have been able to proactively develop a Customer Identification Program well ahead of regulatory mandates.

Kay Toscano, CRCM, Vice President, Senior Risk Manager, United Bank

After evaluating many options, we determined that ID Verification was the only solution that provided us with the identity verifications solution that we wanted, and that is required by the US PATRIOT Act. Initially we were concerned that the identity verification would be laborious and time consuming. Fortunately, FIS has provided us with a solution that is fast, easy and complies with the verification of identity data in one process.

Patty Vlajic, Vice-President/Branch Administrator/Security Officer at First Citizens National Bank

The ‘CIP Team’ at First National Bank of Bellville reviewed several different systems and determined that the FIS ID Verification solution was by far the best for managing compliance with Section 326, 314(a) and OFAC. Each component of the solution from the customized CIP strategy document, quick and easy user setup, searchable reports and record storage, and the instantaneous checks of the OFAC list, has been simple to use and requires virtually no training time for employees. Most importantly, we have been able to maintain high customer service levels because the ID Verification solution completes the identity verification process so quickly. We are confident that we have the comprehensive and accurate knowledge required for us to make quality account decisions.

Suzy Kramer, Vice President & Compliance Officer, Bank of Belleville

Leveraging FIS’s ID Verification technology enables Frontier Bank to integrate our identity verification strategy into our overall processes. We believe having the solution fit within our functional features will lead to increased operational efficiency while keeping our customer service levels high. We are especially excited about the record retention component. Maintaining records for 5 years in such an easily searchable format allows us to check any record, maintain compliance and conduct detailed analysis without overloading our normal systems.

Maria Roush, Vice President Branch Administration/Compliance at Frontier Bank

Linking with the credit bureaus through ID Verification definitely increases our operational efficiency. It's fast and saves us a lot of time by not having to log onto a different web site and re-keying in all the information. We love it!

Janet Olerich, Carroll County State Bank

Using ID Verification, I can concentrate on understanding the potential violation and reporting quickly instead of focusing on the details of completing the actual SAR form.

Brenda Sonnek, Director of Internal Audit and Compliance, Voyager Bank in Mankato, Minnesota

If we determine that there is a potential violation and need to complete a SAR form, I simply click on the ‘Create SAR Report’ within the person’s ID Verification record. This will generate a form that pre-populates with the bank and individual information. We add supplementary details around our suspicions and click the submit button. A PDF of our SAR form is created and is ready for us to send to the government for further investigation.

Brenda Sonnek, Director of Internal Audit and Compliance, Voyager Bank in Mankato, Minnesota

Using ID Verification, we avoid having to log onto different websites and re-key information so we save time and money while keeping our customer service levels high.

Rhonda Hendrix , Pineland State Bank

The SAR form integration within ID Verification is very easy for us to use and makes the solution a very cost-effective and valuable tool for us

Brenda Sonnek, Director of Internal Audit and Compliance, Voyager Bank in Mankato, Minnesota

For PATRIOT Act compliance, it would be extraordinarily time-consuming and expensive for us to research identity information, photocopy and file documentation, buy hardware for record storage then train employees on our CIP procedures. Fortunately, FIS's ID Verification does it all for us within seconds.

Karen Stephenson, Compliance Officer, The Stock Exchange Bank

Industry Leaders

When it comes to identifying customers, you can no longer afford to naively believe that quickly viewing an ID is enough to enable you to know an individual's true identity. As I demonstrated in my ID theft presentation at the ABA NRCC, very real looking fake ID templates are simply too easy to procure and manipulate. If you're going to really keep the bad guys out of the bank, you need a smarter solution. That's precisely why you need to see what the FIS ID Verification Customer ID System can do for you.

Mary Beth Guard, BankersOnline.com, CEO

Considering the current environment community banks are facing with terrorism and identity fraud, we believed it important for us to help lead the way for our community banks by reviewing the available PATRIOT Act solutions. We believe FIS’s ID Verification solution stands head and shoulders above the rest. FIS’s management team’s continued dedication to Community Banks clearly gives them an edge as, once again, they have built a solution based on direct input from community bankers.

John Schneider, Independent Bankers’ Bank’s CEO

Complying with the new regulations associated with the USA PATRIOT Act presents an immense challenge to our industry. We are pleased to offer such a system that helps financial services companies ensure that they will meet the new requirements.

Thomas P. Donaldson, FLMI, CLU, president and CEO of LOMA

FIS’s ID Verification solution provides the most comprehensive, easy-to-use and cost-effective compliance tool in our industry. Our partnership with FIS will allow our members to comply completely with the USA PATRIOT Act regulations while also adding an extensive identity fraud program. In a time when banks are playing a critical part in the prevention of identity fraud and terrorism, we are proud to endorse a proven industry leader. We conducted a thorough due diligence, and FIS, Inc. earned the approval of our Member Services Committee and that of our Board of Directors. We are excited about our alliance with FIS because of their dedication and commitment to the needs and interests of community bankers and the peace of mind that the ID Verification solution will bring to our members.

Steven D. Bridges, CEO of CBA

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