Putting Escrow Agents Back In Control

Last week, Capital One released the findings of a survey, conducted during its TEXPO 2015 event, that found corporate treasurers eager to invest in robust services to help them manage their cash flow.

“In this persistent, low-interest rate environment, companies are increasingly demanding capabilities to help them better understand and manage payments and liquidity,” said Colleen Taylor, Capital One Bank’s head of treasury management and enterprise payments, in an interview with PYMNTS following the release of the study.

But it’s not just treasury officials that need high-tech tools to manage their operations. Just days ago, Capital One announced the launch of its new Escrow Express service, a management platform that allows escrow agents to access an online, self-service portal to manage their accounts. With enhanced security features, automated interest reporting, and a holistic view of account statements and reports, Escrow Express provides escrow agents a way to manage their accounts anywhere, and on their own time.

Once again PYMNTS spoke with Taylor, this time to discuss how Escrow Express sets itself apart from other Escrow-as-a-Service products out there today by placing account management control back in the hands of escrow agents.

How is Escrow Express different than other Escrow-as-a-Service solutions out there today? Which needs did you address that haven’t been addressed by others?

CT: With Escrow Express, clients are in full control of their escrow relationship. The platform is very intuitive and user-friendly. This is where Escrow Express sets itself apart. Most industry solutions still require clients to send manual requests to their bank for fulfillment. With Escrow Express, clients won’t have to spend time searching through paperwork, visiting a branch or making a phone call to conduct their banking transactions.

Does Escrow Express provide any security measures for companies that may be concerned about the protection of their accounts?

CT: Escrow Express is accessed through our online portal, Intellix. Intellix provides multiple layers of the highest level of security available to help protect against unauthorized logins and fraudulent disbursements including user IDs, passcodes and either mobile soft token or hard token security.

Intellix allows clients to tightly control who gets access to what accounts and what specific tasks a particular user can perform on the account. Additionally, Escrow Express provides activity reporting so the client supervisor can monitor user activity on the platform. The platform provides a greater degree of account control, avoids fund comingling and provides very detailed and robust reporting at both the master as well as sub-account level.

Capital One touts Escrow Express as convenient because, among other benefits, it allows businesses to handle their own accounts without having to go into a bank. Do you see businesses leaning away from brick-and-mortar banks and demanding more robust e-banking solutions?

We know that clients prefer a bank that offers a true multichannel experience. Online banking solutions like Escrow Express provide corporate customers the convenience of anytime-and-anywhere banking and thus alleviate the need to interact with a brick-and-mortar branch and/or send a request to the back office for escrow-related transactions. Clients save valuable time in the process which can be spent on more value added/strategic activities.

Where do you see escrow-related technology and the Escrow-as-a-Service industry headed in the next few years?

We believe that future innovation in escrow-related technology will happen on two dimensions. First, delivering a compelling mobile/tablet experience for escrow services, which is much more than taking the existing screens and workflow and presenting that information on a small screen. We see adoption on mobile/tablets as fundamentally transforming the way clients interact with the escrow system, resulting in a dramatically improved experience versus what is possible on the Web.

Second is the seamless integration of escrow with other bank services. Most of today’s escrow systems lack true integration with remote deposit, check issuance, wire transfer and other B2B or B2C payment solutions. We believe that there is tremendous opportunity to seamlessly integrate these different services with the escrow platform to eliminate redundancy in data entry, reduce the possibility of error and make escrow deposits and withdrawals far more efficient and quicker.