The must-add list keeps getting longer, with everything fromdigital wallets to mobile remote deposit capture emerging as 2013must adds for credit unions that are determined to stay relevant.

But know this: there are even more “out there” ideas that,frankly, may not be quite ready for prime time … but theydefinitely deserve a spot on your watch list.

Two ideas seem especially ripe to me, and both revolve around afundamental question: How does a financial institution know who youare?

What if you could sign into mobile banking with no loginrequired? No username. No password. RichBolstridge, chief strategist, financial services at Internettraffic company Akamai told me he sees exactly this coming asfinancial institutions race to up the usability and convenience oftheir mobile tools.

And anybody who has tried to input a lengthy password involvingnumbers, letters and other characters and upper and lower caseknows exactly how treacherous that task is on a mobilephone.

The idea of 86-ing passwords may not be crazy. Forstarters, said Bolstridge, the vast preponderance of mobile loginsare to grab a quick bit of rather harmless information (what's myaccount balance? Did check 244 clear?). We may not exactlywant that information on the front page of the New YorkTimes, but would it matter?

So, posited Bolstridge, what if a credit union required no loginfor a barebones visit – but if you want to do mobile bill pay orP2P payments, then a regular log in would be required?

Bolstridge pointed to Commonwealth Bank of Australia whichalready is offering a no login option.

This no login ante gets upped, dramatically, with the work thatOneID is doing to eliminate use of usernames and passwords. Theidea here is to embed an encrypted login into the mobiledevice. Credit unions with the appropriate back-endtechnology would instantly know who is logging in and what accountsthey will be allowed to see, said Jim Fenton, chief securityofficer at OneID.

Don't dismiss this as crazy. CUNA Strategic Services hasannouncedan alliance with OneID where CUNA is promoting the technology tocredit unions.

OneID also has flexibility. Want to require some kind oftraditional login before any money is transferred out of theaccount? Additional verifications are a user selected option.

For now, Fenton admitted OneID has no active credit unionusers. But, he said, “We are in active discussions with somecredit unions.”

Accept this fact: conversations about simplifying, maybeeliminating, mobile logins are certain to get louder in 2013 andcredit unions at the forefront of delivering member conveniencewill want to stay ahead of this curve

Then there is Photo ID by smartphone, a potentiallyrevolutionary identification idea that Mitek CEO Jim DeBello is peddling. DeBello's mantra is use the camerathat is built into every phone as the ultimate data entrysolution. It's easy, fast, and – unlike typing on asmartphone's glass – it is close to foolproof.

It may radically transform how – and how fast – new accounts areon-boarded.

“We are leveraging consumer habits and letting the camera act asa keyboard,” DeBello said in an interview.

Already, Progressive Insurance is using a variation of the Mitek programwhich – from the Progressive mobile app – snaps a photo of aninsurance applicant's driver's license and uses that data topopulate Progressive's quoting app. In an instant, the usergets a valid quote from the insurer. How easy is that?

Mitek has counted some 197 formats for government-issued driverslicenses in the U.S. and it has concocted tools for extracting theright information and putting it in the right place, saidDeBello.

DeBello now is seeking to license that technology to more kindsof institutions – think credit unions, credit card companies, andthe like.

Just about any place that uses a driver's license as acornerstone of identification might see value in building this snapand go tool into an app, suggested DeBello. “We will gettraction with this in 2013,” said DeBello