POM 105 Cashiers Check Process What is a control number? Do I need to fill it up? exclaims Mrs.

Dizon, a frustrated customer of the Bank of the Philippine Archipelago while filling up the request form for a cashiers check. Her frustration is justified; after all, just a few moments ago, she had been waiting in line for twenty minutes for a Teller only to be told that she should have proceeded to the Account Officer (AO) to get a copy of the cashiers check request form. Why do they need to make things so complicated? And why dont they clearly communicate the steps to get these type of things done? she mutters to herself. The AO, unfortunately, is too busy attending to other transactions (e.g. new accounts and Forex) to mind, much less assist, the frustrated customer. The process for getting a cashiers check is actually straightforward, at least in paper. First, the customer should proceed to the AO to get a request form, which should be filled out in triplicate. After completing the form, the customer should hand back the form to the AO who would then inspect it to ensure that all of the relevant fields are filled out, and that each of the three copies of the form have the same content Around 80% of the time, the AO would notice that some required fields are left blank or some fields that should only be completed by a bank employee are filled out; the AO would politely ask the customer to correct these mistakes. Assuming that the request form is in order, the AO looks up the customers bank account information through a system in his desktop. This is to ensure that the customer is indeed holds an active account in the branch with a balance greater than the amount of the cashier check requested. The AO also retrieves the customers Bank Information Card (BIC), which is an index card filled out by the customer at the time the account was opened. It contains the customers photo and signature, which the AO uses to verify the customers identity. However, around 30% of the time, it will take the AO a long time to look for the BIC as other users often misplace it. Assuming everything is in order, the AO signs the request form and directs the customer to proceed to the Bank Teller. Poor Mrs. Dizon, she would need to line up for a Bank Teller again. The Bank Teller is responsible for debiting the amount requested from the customers account. In order to verify the customers identity, he also searches for and looks at the customers BIC. Once the amount has been debited, the Bank Teller staples the transaction receipt with the request form and directs the customer to hand it over to the AO. Upon receiving the form, the AO notes the control number of an empty cashiers check and inputs it, together with the customers bank account information, to the banks Check Order Processing System (COPS). The AO then uses a typewriter to fill up the relevant fields in the cashiers check and specifically a Paymaster cheque-writer to stamp the amount. After which, the AO brings the completed check, request form, Teller transaction receipt as well as a printed confirmation report from COPS to the Senior Account Officer for approval and then to the Branch Cashier who is responsible for signing the check. Both the Senior Account Officer and the Branch Cashier randomly inspect the documents to ensure that they are in order, but they usually just skim through the content especially during the banks peak hours as they have other responsibilities as well. The Branch Cashier keeps one of the three copies (the green copy) of the request form and returns the rest of the documents, including the check, to the AO. Note that for cashiers checks greater than $100,000, the Branch Managers approval is required before the Branch Cashier can sign the check. The AO records the date, time, the customers name, the customers bank account number and the cashier checks control number in a logbook and then asks the customer to sign beside the entry to acknowledge receipt of the check. Then the AO hands both the check and the blue copy of the request form to the customer, and retains the pink copy of the request form and the rest of the documentation for the banks records. The entire process lasts 35-60 minutes. A recent bank audit revealed that both the Branch Cashier and AOs either have missing request forms or have retained the wrong copy of the form.