Abstract: A commercial paper document is provided with all necessary information to be a legal negotiable instrument sufficient to complete a financial transaction via facsimile. The commercial paper document contains user input fields (including a payee name, a date and an amount) completed by a drawer or payer party. The commercial paper document further contains computer-readable code fields for information including a bank identification number and an account number which may be in a bar code format. Security of the transaction is ensured by placing an encrypted code field (such as a signature field) on the document. When the commercial paper document is sent to both the payee and the drawee and the payee presents the document for remittance, the drawee may verify the authenticity of the document using the encrypted code field.

Abstract: Financial transactions are performed rapidly by creating a commercial document, delivering an image of the document to the payee via facsimile, delivering an image of the document to the drawee via facsimile and processing the image of the document using a computer which responds to software commands for retrieving electronically encrypted information on the commercial paper document.