We are a small bank and sometimes it's hard to maintain independence. We are wanting our proof operator to start working in bookkeeping some because over the last few years the number of paper checks coming in has decreased and she has some free time. I think the only chore she can't do in bookkeeping because of a conflict of interest is to reconcile the correspondent accounts, right? The other tasks such as reconciling official checks and determining what checks to pay or return (NSF processing) shouldn't be an issue, do you agree? I was asked about wires, but I would think she could do those because it takes 2 people to process a wire. If she initiates one, another employee has to review it and then send it. Plus the Chief Operations Officer reviews the wire log when she reconciles the fed account.

Any opinions and helpful information you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

You are going to have to define "proof operator". That may mean a lot of different things that are bank dependent.

And it's probably obsolete in most banks. She processes all of the transactions (tickets and checks) that are done in the bank. The tellers send their "work" to her throughout the day including our two local branch locations. She images all the transactions and makes sure everything balances and then it is submitted. Hope this helps.

It is obsolete at our bank, however back in the day, the proof operator was part of what we called the bookkeeping department. They could do everything except reconcile correspondent accounts. That included statement preparation, wire transfers/fedline, ach processing, ach origination, customer service via phone, nsf processing, chargeback processing and reconcilement of official check accounts. The one big thing they can't do is teller work obviously.

Very helpful information! Thanks so much!

The most complicated SAR I ever read was one where the proof operator handled return items. She returned her own NSF items and those of family members, but made a number of "mistakes" in doing so, oftentimes sending them to a wrong or nonexistent bank. It got so complicated the other banks involved oftentimes just gave up and ate the loss which was always relatively small.

It fell apart when the "wrong" person at her bank answered the phone and tried to help another banker figure out what the problem was...