Authorized Signers Using Internet Banking

by Mary Beth Guard, BOL Guru

Question: Is it a good practice to allow an authorized signer on an account to set himself up on Internet Banking? Or should the request be authorized by the account owner? I'm not comfortable allowing our customers to do this, yet I can't seem to come up with a good enough reason to not allow them to do it.

Answer: There are lots of customers who are willing to allow someone to be an authorized signer on their account, but who don't want the authorized signer to have full access to all the details about other checks written, deposits made, etc. They figure that as long as they (the owner of the account) are receiving the bank statement, they can pick and choose what they tell the authorized signer.

If someone has access to the online account, however, they pretty much have access to everything. For that reason, I would not allow an authorized signer to have access to Internet banking unless it was at the direction of (or with the express approval of) the owner of the account, and I would document that approval for your records.

The original version appeared in the June 2004 edition of the Oklahoma Bankers Association Compliance Informer.

First published on BankersOnline.com 11/8/04