Editing Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting (section)

[[File:ERMA logo.jpg|thumb|The ERMA logo]]

'''ERMA''' ('''Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting''') was a [[computer]] technology that automated bank [[bookkeeping]] and [[Cheque clearing|check processing]]. Developed at the nonprofit research institution [[SRI International]] under contract from [[Bank of America]], the project began in 1950 and was publicly revealed in September 1955.<ref name="our">{{cite web |title= Our Heritage: Bank of America revolutionizes banking industry |url= https://about.bankofamerica.com/en-us/our-story/bank-of-america-revolutionizes-industry.html |website =Bank of America |access-date =19 January 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.sri.com/work/timeline/erma-micr |title= Timeline of Innovations: Electronic Recording Machine, Accounting |publisher= [[SRI International]] |access-date= 2012-07-15 |archive-date= 2013-05-11 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130511070954/http://www.sri.com/work/timeline/erma-micr }}</ref>

Payments experts contend that ERMA "established the foundation for [[Online banking|computerized banking]], [[magnetic ink character recognition]] (MICR), and [[credit-card]] [[Payment processor|processing]]".<ref name="increment">{{cite journal |author1=Hannah H. Kim |title=ERMA's whiz kids |journal=Increment |date=November 2019 |issue=11 |url=https://increment.com/teams/ermas-whiz-kids |access-date=2020-01-19 |archive-date=2023-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314042713/https://increment.com/teams/ermas-whiz-kids/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[General Electric]] (GE) won the production contract, deciding to [[transistor]]ize the design in the process. Calling the machine the GE-100, a total of 32 ERMA machines were built. GE would use this experience to develop several [[mainframe]] computer lines before selling the division to [[Honeywell]] in 1970.