Corporate Capture for Business

*Deposits transmitted by 7:00 p.m. EST on a business day or on weekends or statutory holidays will immediately appear in your FirstOntario business account, with funds available on the next business day.

Use of Corporate Capture for Business is subject to eligibility requirements and applicable service fees.

Corporate Capture allows business members to process their own cheque deposits quickly and conveniently from their workplace, eliminating the need for time-consuming branch visits for this purpose. Cheque images and deposit information are securely transmitted by an authorized user or users utilizing a compatible cheque scanner, installed computer software, and access to a login portal URL (separate from online banking) that is provided by FirstOntario during set-up.

Yes, there are three features to help ensure secure transmission:

• Authorized users must first be registered by FirstOntario and granted access to the application
• Cheque images are transmitted using a secure HTTPS connection

Once the cheque deposit has been transmitted by an authorized user, it will immediately show in the account.

Yes, the cut-off time is 7 p.m. local time, Monday through Friday. Items scanned after the cut-off time, as well as on weekends and statutory holidays, will be included in the next business day’s processing.

Yes, US fund cheques drawn on Canadian and U.S. financial institutions can be deposited to a FirstOntario US business account. The user must ensure the appropriate US dollar account is selected when US dollar items are scanned.

Yes, within limits. An item is considered a potential duplicate when the application finds a match between two deposit items that have an identical MICR line (serial/cheque number, account number, route/transit) and item amount. As items are scanned, the captured MICR and amount for each item is compared to other items that are stored in the database. Items are retained in the database for comparison and research for 180 days. If a duplicate item is erroneously processed (not in the database), the financial institution the cheque is drawn on will dishonor the transaction and return the item as a duplicate.

Ineligible items include:

• Non-USD/other foreign currency cheques
• USPS domestic money orders
• Post-dated or stale-dated cheques

The software only reads the MICR line and the amount of the item. It cannot detect the above-listed items, or items that are not signed or properly endorsed, changes not initialized, or where the body and figures differ. The authorized user will be required to verify the cheques are acceptable for deposit before scanning the items.

The cheque scanner is a one-time required hardware purchase and is available through FirstOntario’s selected vendor, Paystation. You can review pricing details and order a cheque scanner by visiting Paystation.ca/CreativeArtsFinancial. Once ordered, your cheque scanner should arrive in 2 – 3 business days.

Based on feedback and industry trends, FirstOntario recommends one low speed scanner that is suitable for most businesses and three higher speed scanner options for higher volume businesses. The primary consideration for model choice will be the per-unit cost weighed against the need for higher processing speeds, determined mainly by assessing cheque volumes.

To ensure deposits are processed in a timely manner and to avoid the potential for duplicate items being scanned in error, deposits should not be created until the user is prepared to complete them.

1. Sort the deposit items by currency (CDN and USD)
2. Ensure items are in good condition to scan (e.g. repair torn items, remove staples, etc.)
3. Create a tape listing of the items in the deposit
4. Log onto the application via the URL (Enter username and password)
5. Create a new deposit
6. Select the applicable account to for the deposit
7. Enter the total deposit amount
8. Scan the deposit items in batches of less than 100 items (recommended)
9. Resolve any deposit errors (e.g. amount misreads, detected duplicates)
10. Balance the deposit
11. Review the deposit
12. Transmit the deposit
13. Move the cheques to physical secure storage

The physical cheques should be retained by the business in a secure location. In most cases, these items will not need to be referenced once the item has cleared and can be destroyed once your required retention period has passed. The required retention period is 120 days and should be destroyed after that time.