OTCnet News and Updates
New Webinar Series: OTCnet Refreshers
Join us for our new webinar series on the Over-the-Counter Channel Application that will address pain points, offer training tips, and provide how-to instructions to help improve your performance in OTCnet! The first webinar session, on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, will focus on the processes for completing check processing forms (e.g., Agency Site Profile form), voiding checks, retrieving check images, and others. Also, the open Q&A session will allow you to ask questions and receive expert advice from the OTCnet team. Please refer to the Training Calendar to learn more about the upcoming webinar topics and register for the series.
2025 Holiday Schedule
Agencies should refer to the OTCnet 2025 Holiday Notices to view the OTCnet processing schedule for federal holidays. Holiday operations will only impact the processing of deposits. Deposit tickets submitted on the business day prior to the holiday and before 9:30 PM EST will be processed as normal. Visit the website for more information.
OTCnet Check Processing: Discontinued RDM Scanners
RDM has ended producing the EC9603 check scanner. If you use this model, your connectivity will not be impacted, and you may continue use with OTCnet. OTCnet offers two alternative models: Panini Vision 1 and Panini Vision X. Users can be assured these models match the required quality and performance for OTCnet. See more information on our current hardware offerings.
OTCnet User Account “Lifetime Rule”
In OTCnet’s previous identity management solution (ISIM), Fiscal Service Security required that all user accounts be disabled after 120 consecutive days of inactivity. Now that the transition from ISIM to SailPoint IdentityIQ is complete, this “Lifetime Rule” has resumed. After the four-month period of inactivity, the user’s OTCnet entitlements will be systematically removed from their SailPoint identity. This will make the account inaccessible. To restore their account, users should contact the Customer Support Team.
OTCnet Training
OTCnet’s Training Site offers User Guides, step-by-step Printable Job Aids, and training tutorials for key OTCnet user roles to help Agencies, Financial Institutions (FIs), and the Federal Reserve Bank with a wide range of topics and user tasks. Our Training Resources offer user-friendly guidance to onboarding, OTCnet updates, and current training offerings.
Card Processing: Verifone M440 Card Reader
OTCnet’s card processing solution now supports the Verifone M440 multimedia card terminal, offering high-definition color display, touch screen, and full audio and video capabilities. The Verifone M440 model was chosen to ensure all terminals are PCI DSS compliant at the time of purchase. Also, it has the Secure Commerce Architecture (SCA) needed to secure Card Processing transactions. For more information, please refer to Getting Started: Card Processing. For agencies that own the Verifone MX925 device, payments can still be processed on OTCnet, but this model is no longer sold through Verifone.
Moving from Paper Collections to Electronic Collections
The U.S. Treasury is strongly recommending agencies to move away from collecting cash and checks and move to electronic solutions (i.e. Pay.Gov, Online Bill Payment, ACH Credit/Debit) for collections. When you are working on transitioning to an electronic solution, please use Mobile or OTCnet Check Capture to electronically scan checks instead of depositing at a TGA bank. The OTCnet team has a goal of cutting paper deposit volume by 25% by the end of the fiscal year 2025.
Throughout 2024, Fiscal Service worked with agencies to start reporting individual currency and check denominations on each new TGA deposit voucher. As of August 1, 2024, almost all agencies using Deposit Processing have been updated in OTCnet to report denominations for each new deposit voucher. If you do not see the reporting denomination changes in your deposit voucher creation process, more information will be sent out to your agency Accounting Specialists and Deposit Processing Users in the coming weeks, if applicable. Please contact the OTCnet Team at FiscalService.OTCDeployment@citi.com with any questions on this Fiscal Service initiative.