MICR, an acronym that stands for Magnetic Ink Character Recognition, is the special set of characters and symbols that appear at the bottom of checks and other financial documents. MICR technology was developed in the mid-1950s to more efficiently process checks, which were increasing in volume and quickly overwhelming the manual processing system.

Today, many types of financial documents utilize MICR technology; not only traditional bank deposit slips and loan payment stubs, but also gift certificates and stock certificates have adopted this standard. However, checks still account for the largest volume of MICR documents.

MICR characters are either printed in special inks using offset printing presses or printed with MICR toners using a laser printer. The MICR font characters are magnetized and read electronically by special reader/sorter equipment by financial institutions. The MICR line contains critical account information and instructions on how the payment is to be automatically routed and processed. Processing is done initially at the bank of deposit and progresses through the Federal Reserve System in the U.S. and/or other banking systems throughout the world.

The E13-B MICR font is used in the USA and many other countries, while some nations use a CMC-7 MICR standard. These fonts must meet stringent specifications (i.e., ABA and ANSI in the U.S., PIRA and APACS in the U.K., CBA in Canada) for successful readability by bank reader/sorter processing equipment. Only expert formulations and precision manufacturing processes are able to produce the high quality MICR toners and fonts necessary to achieve regulatory approvals.

The Zenith Information Group
Zenith Information Systems, Inc., Zenith Consulting, Inc. Zenith Internet Services, LLP
18757 Burbank Blvd., Ste 116, Tarzana, CA 91356
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