For financial institutions (FIs) operating in New York, Information Subpoenas and Restraining Notices represent some of the most labor-intensive compliance work in legal order processing. Safari supports a capability that can eliminate virtually all of the manual effort involved, for institutions that have automated subject searching configured with their core system. For institutions with cost recovery agreements in place with creditor firms, Safari can also automate invoice generation and delivery as part of the response process.
This workflow is already in active use between New York creditor firms and FIs, meaning the creditor side of the process is established and familiar to the firms. This article explains how the workflow operates and what is required to implement it.
New York gives judgment creditors and their attorneys the authority to serve Information Subpoenas (IS) on financial institutions. Unlike a subpoena requiring document production, an IS requires the FI to answer a set of specific questions about whether and how a debtor holds accounts or assets at that institution.
The practical problem is that each creditor firm writes its own IS with its own questions. Firms may include many different question types, and those questions evolve over time. Every IS response therefore requires staff to read and answer the questions individually. There is no way to automate this in a meaningful way, and IS volume is high and growing.
New York law permits electronic service of Information Subpoenas if the served party agrees in writing. Safari's NY IS automation capability takes advantage of this by establishing a formal workflow agreement between your institution and participating creditor firms.
Under this agreement, the creditor firm submits an omnibus information subpoena with a standardized data match file format containing only debtor information and TINs, with no individual questions to answer. In exchange, the creditor firm receives a fast, automated response without the manual work of printing, mailing, and tracking individual subpoenas. Both sides benefit: your institution eliminates manual IS responses entirely, and creditor firms get results faster with less operational overhead.
Because this workflow is already in use with New York creditor firms, the file format and submission process are established. On your institution's side, the process is fully automated. Safari uses your integrated subject search to compare the debtor list against your customer records and return a standard response file, with no staff intervention required to generate the response file. All file transfers between creditor firms and your institution are encrypted end-to-end, protecting sensitive debtor data at every step.
Agreement in place. Your institution has signed workflow agreements with participating creditor firms authorizing this electronic IS process.
Firm submits the data match request. The creditor firm submits two files through your institution's ServePort portal: an omnibus IS in PDF format covering all debtors in the submission, and the standardized data match file listing those debtors by identifier and TIN. ServePort will verify that the file satisfies the format requirements.
Safari creates and processes the matter. Safari automatically creates a matter, stores the omnibus IS and data match file, and runs the subject search against your core system.
Response file is generated. Safari auto-generates a response file identifying which submitted debtors matched customers at your institution. No staff action is required.
Optional Invoice. If specified in your agreement with the creditor firm, before delivering the response file, your user can select or generate an invoice to be included as part of the response file delivery, ensuring cost recovery as part of the process.
Creditor firm acts on matches. For each debtor that matched a customer at your institution, the creditor firm generates and serves an electronic ISRN through ServePort. Receiving an ISRN triggers your institution's standard legal order workflow and normal obligations under applicable law, including required debtor mailings.
Integrated subject search. Your institution must have an active integration between Safari and your core system configured for automated subject searching. The data match automation is built on top of this integration.
Creditor firm agreements. Your institution must have a signed workflow agreement in place with each creditor firm participating in the data match process. Safari will help you arrange those agreements.
Statement of work. This implementation requires a statement of work with our team, which includes configuring the ServePort portal and the data match processing logic for your environment.
Contact your Safari Customer Success Manager to discuss implementation. We will review your current subject search configuration, walk through the workflow agreement framework for creditor firms, and outline what a statement of work would involve.