LAS VEGAS — Ask Jim DeBello, CEO of San Diego-based Mitek, how a financial institution can ramp up use of digital bill payment tools and the man whose company is built around scanning checks for mobile deposit has an answer that both surprises and makes perfect sense.

Mitek is known for its mobile RDC tools – in use in 150+ credit unions, said DeBello – but what he suggested to Credit Union Times in a sideline interview Monday at the bustling Money2020 conference in Las Vegas is that Mitek's next play is tools that will let users snap a picture of a bill using a smartphone and Mitek software will recognize who is being paid how much and how.

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That means DeBello is in effect discouraging check writing – Mitek's lifeblood – because he smells a huge opportunity in mobile bill payment via camera.

There are millions of credit union members who do not use online bill pay; they are not likely candidates for near-term conversion to mobile bill pay, but, said DeBello, they just might jump on paying a bill by taking a picture of it. “This is about making the consumer's life easier,” he said..

“This is a big idea. It's about letting the consumer make fewer steps,” said DeBello.

He said Mitek has a deal in hand with “a top 10 bank” and while he declined to name names in Las Vegas, he said he would announce it early in November.

He added that he also saw a huge opportunity in powering bill pay via camera for the presently underbanked – “They still pay paper bills,” he said – and he added that Mitek is powering the mobile RDC component for Bluebird, the payments service jointly launched by American Express and Walmart to serve the underbanked and unbanked.

Instant Insights /

Mitek&rsquo;s DeBello Pictures More Bill Payment With Smartphones: Onsite Coverage

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Mitek’s DeBello Pictures More Bill Payment With Smartphones: Onsite Coverage