E-billing promises fee income to banks

Dollar Bank, a US-based bank, joined Wells Fargo and Company in a 15-month test of the Electronic Billing Information Delivery Service (Ebids), an electronic bill payment system, says Digital Transactions.

The pilot programme is expected to run until the end of next year and is intended in part to create a revenue stream for banks in bill payment and presentment, says Rob Unger, senior director of e-billing and payments at Nacha, the organisation sponsoring Ebids.

US banks and credit unions will spend more than $900 million in outsourcing parts of their electronic bill-payment services this year, a figure that's expected to rise to $1 billion by 2010, according to a report from researcher TowerGroup.

Zotec Partners, a provider of medical billing, practice management and Radiology Information Systems (RIS) software, reveals that Atlantic Medical Imaging has licensed the company's Electronic Billing Centre (EBC) suite, which includes the RIS software, EZ Med Portal and decision support tools, reports Business Wire.

The software suite will enable the imaging practice to accomplish better patient care while enhancing workflow management.

The EBC, which is Zotec Partners' flagship product, is currently in use in 45 states by over 5 500 physicians in the United States.

MyECheck, an electronic transaction processor and provider of alternative payment solutions, will provide Nationwide Billing Services with its suite of electronic cheque processing services, says Market Watch.

This agreement allows Nationwide Billing Group clients' customers to use their cheque accounts as an additional form of online payment.

MyECheck's patented software can debit every US cheque account, providing online merchants financial access to more consumers and businesses than any other payment method.