U.S. Bank Electronic Cash Letter Deposit Allows Stifel Nicolaus to Reduce Operating Expenses.

MINNEAPOLIS -- U.S. Bank (NYSE:USB) customer Stifel Nicolaus (a retail brokerage and investment banking firm) is reaping the rewards of utilizing U.S. Bank Electronic Cash Letter Deposit. This revolutionary product allows Stifel Nicolaus to deposit all check payments electronically at U.S. Bank. Stifel Nicolaus no longer needs to prepare and transport paper-based cash letter payments to the bank, allowing them to reduce operating expenses and have more processing time for their payments.

"We are excited to have Stifel Nicolaus on board and using U.S. Bank Electronic Cash Letter Deposit," said Jamie Wells, vice president and product development manager for treasury management services at U.S. Bank. "Stifel Nicolaus is very progressive in their approach to new treasury management solutions and we shared in their vision of truncating checks at the first point of presentment."

"We are very pleased with the results of the pilot program, and that U.S. Bank had its electronic cash letter deposit product ready when we wanted it," said Curt Stalter, vice president of treasury management at Stifel Nicolaus. "We had wanted to implement an electronic cash letter deposit solution for some time, and when Check 21 became effective, a number of other banks I checked with didn't have their product ready. The U.S. Bank team was organized with an implementation plan for the pilot program. Things happened on time and went very well, as expected."

U.S. Bank has made a significant commitment to this electronic deposit capability, and it has generated a large amount of interest among the company's corporate and government customer base.

U.S. Bank Electronic Cash Letter Deposit allows bank customers to capture and transmit an electronic file with check data and images. It eliminates the need to run a second or even a third pass through their high-speed capture equipment and power encoding. Out-of-balance paper deposits, missing items, and missing cash letter issues are eliminated. Automated Clearing House (ACH) eligible items can be converted to electronic transactions, with remaining items processed as an image deposit. The ACH feature is optional for customers who prefer to use image deposit for all items. Customers benefit from extending the check processing window with late evening ACH deadlines. The product also consolidates ACH and image deposit returns by providing the customer with re-presentment capabilities as well as automating the final charge-back process.

"The product was designed so that any company that has the ability to capture images and check data along the bottom of the check, can now clear those checks electronically with U.S. Bank," said Wells.

U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), with assets of $198 billion, is the 6th largest financial holding company in the United States. The company operates 2,377 banking offices and 4,654 ATMs, and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. U.S. Bancorp is home of the Five Star Service Guarantee which assures customers of certain key banking benefits and services or customers will be paid for their inconvenience. U.S. Bancorp is the parent company of U.S. Bank. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com.