One of the interesting areas of mobile technology advancement in the financial sector is the use of smartphone cameras for scanning and verification of documents. Among the initial use cases were scanning tools added to bank apps to allow for check cashing directly from a smartphone. One of the leaders in providing such scanning technology to financial institutions is mobile imaging firm Mitek whose MiSnap solution for check cashing is integrated into many of the US’s largest banks mobile apps for retail customers.
Expanding their offering for banks, Mitek has introduced Photo Verify this week. Expected to be available later this year, Photo Verify provides tools for financial institutions to integrated driver’s license identification features to satisfy KYC (know your customer) requirements for new account holders directly from a mobile device. Like their check cashing tool, Photo Verify uses a phone’s camera to scan a customer’s driver’s license to authenticate ownership of an account.
The launch of Photo Verify comes as the sector has seen a wave of similar products hit the market over the past year. Specifically for banks, mobile-based verification solutions satisfy a growing trend among customers to avert interaction with their financial institutions in branches. In contrast, customers are increasingly migrating towards opening new accounts, as well as signing up for new services such as credit cards and loans through browser or mobile-based portals.
For Mitek, although competing products have already hit the market, having an existing bank client base that has integrated MiSnap technology puts them in position to bundle the new Photo Verify solution to their financial institution customers.
Commenting on the product introduction which was demoed publicly for the first time yesterday at FinovateSpring, James B. DeBello, President & CEO, of Mitek stated, “This technology is the next step in enabling financial institutions to optimize the mobile channel for customer Acquisition . Institutions can be 100% sure that the license presented is an authentic, unaltered, government issued document. This will give them the confidence to approve more new customers.”
