Now, Check Shuttling Operations Could Be Affected

The ghosts of 9/11 continue to haunt business aviation. All flights were grounded in the wake of the attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001. That included flights of paper checks transported overnight from bank to bank. Now, the House has approved a bill that makes it easier for checks to clear the bank electronically, a move that could drastically reduce the overnight aerial banking runs.

The bill would "protect the payment system in times of national emergency, by insuring that checks will continue to be processed through the payment system without interruption," said Rep. Mike Oxley, an Ohio Republican and chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Instead of having to fly the checks from bank to bank, the measure would allow financial institutions to trade electronic images of checks, making the images as valid as the real thing.

Banks, the Federal Reserve and members of both political parties on Capitol Hill like the idea. But consumer advocates are worried that electronic checks might weaken protections against fraud and abuse, making your checking account more prone to error. Lawmakers added provisions clarifying that electronic checks would enjoy the same consumer safeguards as paper checks. But pilots flying bank runs may end up finding something else to do for a living.

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