The regulation must be read as it reads. "In an account held by a payee of the check." As long as it goes into an account of either payee, your options are to place some form of exception hold or to treat it as a next-day item. Period.
If the regulation read "In an account held by the payee[s] of the check," it would mean the account would have to be jointly held by the joint payees.
_________________________
John S. Burnett
BankersOnline.com
Fighting for Compliance since 1976
Bankers' Threads User #8