Reading Cooperative Bank (RCB) is partnering with fintech ZSuite Technologies to launch ZEscrow, an automated commercial escrow solution, and ZRent, an automated payment collection tool.

Escrow, trust and “for the benefit of” (FBO) accounts have long been pain points for banks, requiring manual account opening and management processes, ZSuite Technologies Chief Executive Nathan Baumeister told Bank Automation News. The fintech’s solutions allow $750 million RCB to automate the account opening process with self-service options, “which then eliminates all of the communication going back and forth [with the bank],” Baumeister said.

The Reading, Mass.-based bank’s focus on entrepreneurs and small business owners revealed a need for automation tools that generate efficiencies for customers, according to Jessica Glezellis, vice president and cash management officer at RCB.

“Landlords don’t have the means to make their workflow more efficient,” Glezellis told BAN. “Whether it’s ZRent or ZEscrow, having this platform will allow them to collect rents electronically [and] be online to open the subaccounts directly through the platform so they don’t have to visit the branch.”

Automation technologies

RCB integrated the responsive web app through batch reporting, but banks can also implement the technology through APIs, Baumeister said. If a bank has a commercial client with an API connection, ZSuite can integrate its software directly via APIs for data collection, he added.

For RCB, implementing ZRent will allow its landlord clients to increase workflow efficiencies by collecting rent electronically, opening subaccounts directly online, and reducing or eliminating branch visits, Glezellis told BAN.

The bank has yet to quantify the time savings from automating and streamlining workflows across its 11 branches in Massachusetts, but ZSuite mapped out tenant security deposits pre- and post-integration of ZEscrow and the steps were reduced to nine from 32, Baumeister said.

Looking ahead, RCB will continue on the path of innovation for its growing mobile app and will watch for opportunities where “we can continue to automate,” Glezellis said.

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