Clarke American's Check Printing Process Produces Lowest MICR Reject Rates.

Business Editors

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 9, 2001

Digital Printing Study Revealed

Clarke American, a provider of checks and innovative products and services, announced the results of a comprehensive three-year study on magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) reject rates.

The study revealed that Clarke American's 100 percent digital printing process, designed in partnership with Xerox, has the best MICR reject rate of any check on the market.

"Through the years, Clarke American has been asked to consult in various partners' Item Processing Centers (IPC)," said Don Hollensbe, national director of Quality Assurance for Clarke American. "We have collected all possible data as it relates to checks, including the MICR reject rates, and we compiled information from every check that was rejected in our partners' institutions over the course of three years. We didn't do a statistical sampling; we kept records for every single rejected check, regardless of who printed the check. The analysis showed that Clarke American checks were rejected significantly less often than others."

According to competitors, digital printing produces high reject rates. Since 1998, Clarke American checks have experienced less than one-tenth of one percent MICR rejected; .091 percent in 1998, .04 percent in 1999, and .068 percent in 2000.

"Clarke American is proud to be the first and only check provider to offer fully digital printing," said Don Dolan, vice president and general manager of Clarke American's Credit Union Division. "Our partners understand the benefits of digital printing, such as improved quality, a reduction in error rates and faster order turnaround time. But digital printing also enables unique one-on-one marketing capabilities such as letterchecks and InTouch messaging.

"Because of digital printing, our partners can save valuable time on manually entering MICR rejected checks; they can save crucial marketing dollars by marketing to members directly in every check book; and they can improve member relations through fast and virtually error-free delivery. Digital printing is just another example of Clarke American's commitment to our partners."

About Clarke American

Clarke American Checks, Inc., headquartered in San Antonio, is one of the largest specialty printers of financial institution checks in the United States. Since 1975, Clarke American has been helping credit unions with unique services such as InTouch(R) Messaging, a direct marketing alternative, and ServiceLine Plus(SM), a co-sourced call center solution.

Producing more than 11 billion checks per year, Clarke American has an unmatched 99.92 percent printing accuracy rate in the industry. In 2001, Clarke American was the sole recipient of the Texas Quality Award, which is based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality criteria. The award is an annual recognition of Texas organizations that excel in performance excellence and application of outstanding quality principles in their day-to-day operations.

For more information about Clarke American's Credit Union products and services, contact Nora Guerra at [e-mail] or 210.697.6203. Visit its Internet site at www.clarkeamerican.com or http://creditunion.clarkeamerican.com.