JPMorganChase is upgrading its lockbox operations with automation and robotics, part of the $19.8 billion the bank has set aside for technology investment this year.
The robots handle the physical grunt work of check processing: opening envelopes, removing staples, and scanning documents. They’re already running in Chicago, and the bank plans to roll them out across its six other wholly owned lockbox locations in the US.
Checks have been written off as a dying payment method for decades, but that hasn’t stopped JPMorganChase from continuing to invest in the business built around processing them. The push isn’t primarily about cutting labor costs. It’s about margin defense and protecting the operating deposits and treasury relationships that come attached to lockbox clients.
Herald View: A bank spending nearly $20 billion on technology choosing to automate paper check handling says something about how sticky treasury relationships really are. JPMorganChase isn’t modernizing the lockbox because checks have a future, it’s modernizing the lockbox because the deposits and client relationships tied to it do.