core mobile imaging technology, dubbed “MiSnap,” in recent years.
As I explained a few years ago, Mitek took advantage of its longstanding-but-underutilized expertise in character recognition technology to pivot and target the extraordinary growth of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.
“We started with mobile photo deposit,” DeBello told me. “Then we had mobile photo bill pay. Now we have mobile photo account transfer.”
The latest application of Mitek’s core mobile imaging technology could tap into a substantial customer base, if the company’s success with its mobile check deposit technology is any indication. In the five years since Mitek introduced mobile check deposit, the company has licensed its technology to 1,059 banking institutions, and it is available at 559 of them, according to the company’s third-quarter financial results for the period ending June 30. Mitek counts all 10 of the nation’s top 10 banking firms as customers, DeBello said.
J.P. Morgan Chase, a Mitek customer and the largest U.S. bank, reported a 30 percent gain, year-over-year, in mobile banking accounts, according to a recent article in Bank Innovation magazine. Wells Fargo, the nation’s fourth-largest bank, showed 29 percent growth, year-over-year, in its mobile banking customers.
The regulatory nature of the banking business means that banks are slow to innovate, yet DeBello said customers are eager for mobile banking innovations. When Chase was the only bank offering a mobile photo deposit app, DeBello says, “people were changing their banks to go to Chase just because of the mobile photo deposit.”
U.S. Bank will be the first major U.S. bank to offer mobile imaging technology to transfer credit card accounts, according to Mitek.
