WHAT IS MICR? M I C R ( M A G N E T I C I N K C H A R A C T E R R E C O G N I T I O N ) MICR is a character recognition system that is widely used in the banking industry for chequeprocessing.

It involves using a stylized font and magnetic ink to print characters in a document. Whenthis document needs to be decoded, it passes through a special machine or equipment, which magnetizes the ink and then translates the magnetic information into characters. If required, the same information in the document can also be read optically through OCR. Over the years, MICR has been proven to be a secure and high performance mechanism for processing information.The numbers typically found on the bottom of a check comprising of the check number, sort number and account number are usually printed in magnetic ink for use in MICR.

C O N N E C T C O D E M I C R E 1 3 B ConnectCode MICR is a Magnetic Ink Character Recognition font based on the E13-B industry standard. This is a widely accepted standard in the US, Canada, Australia and many other countries.The character set of this standard comprise of ten numbers (0..9) and four special symbols(Amount,Domestic, BSB and Dash). S T A N D A R D F O N T The following is the recommended ConnectCode MICR font to be used Font File Name - ConnectCodeMICR.ttf Font Name CCodeMICR Font Size -- Fixed at 12 Points

MICR Fonts:
MICR Fonts are the characters that appear at the bottom of checks or financial documents. There are two different fonts which are used depending on established banking standards in the country. These fonts are E-13B and CMC-7. The E-13B Font looks like this:

Currently, this font or MICR Character set is used in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Japan, India, Mexico, Colombia, and Turkey. Where did the name E13-B come from? E: signifies that it was the 5th version of the font considered. B: signifies that it was the second revision of that font. 13: references the fact that the MICR font is constructed on a .013 module for stroke and character width.

The CMC-7 Font looks like this:

Currently this font or MICR Character set is used in France, Spain, Israel, South America (except Colombia) and other Mediterranean Countries. This line consists of ten specially designed numbers (0 through 9) and four special symbols (Transit, Amount, On-Us, and Dash). The combination of characters and numbers provide the check, routing, and account numbers on a check. They can also provide the check amount. Read from right to left Positions 1 through 12 host the Amount Field; Positions 13 through 32 host the On-Us Field; Positions 33 through 43 host the Transit Field; Positions 45 up to as many digits that will fit the size of the check host the Aux On-Us Field.

MICR History
A technology that is over 50 years old still holds value in todays market. The MICR Technology which we utilize today was invented in the 1950s as a way to increase productivity of check processing. When computers started to become part of the business world; committees of bank employees, machine manufacturers, and check processors grouped together to provide suggested ways to create automation in the check processing departments. Prior to the formation of the committees, two different check processing methods were used. The two check processing methods were Sort-A-Matic and Top Tab Key Sort. The Sort-AMatic process was made up of 100 dividers numbered 0 through 99 and each divider was composed of either metal or leather. The Sort-A-Matic process sorted checks through a stepped or phased process. After reviewing the first two numbers of the account, the checks were placed into a divider. Then they were grouped by the second two numbers of the account and so forth, until the checks were in numerical order by account number. The Top Tab Key Sort was a slightly different process. This system used a technology which required holes to be punched in the top of each check indicating the ones, tens and hundreds digits. When it was time to sort the checks a metal key was inserted into the checks separating them by the corresponding holes until they were put into numerical order by account number. Each of these systems was time consuming and became outdated as the number of checks began to increase. When the opportunity to utilize computers evolved, it was an obvious choice to further automate the process; that solution evolved into MICR printing technology utilizing the E-13B font and CMC-7 fonts. Todays MICR Technology provides banks with the ability to use computer technology to process checks at a rate faster than the previous methods. It also includes guidelines to ensure production of consistently readable MICR characters. Some key components of the MICR line are as follows: MICR Clear Band: Only MICR characters are allowed in this area. No extraneous toner or other magnetic material is allowed on the front or back.

MICR Character Skew: Less than 1.5 degrees

Character Print Quality: Good, with no voids or breaks and no visual fading across the page

Correct Data: Numbers and symbols should be correct and in correct positions