Study: Demand Surging for Mobile RDC

US Banker  |  May, 2011

By John Adams and Andrea McKenna Brankin

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Banks are not yet able to meet the demand for mobile check deposit, according to a Javelin Strategy and Research study released on May 24.

The study focused on consumer appetite for the new technology and found that approximately 25 percent of Americans want to use their mobile devices to deposit checks. And when including individuals who already are using mobile phones for banking purposes, the percentage grows to 50 percent. The research firm based its findings on an online survey of more than 13,000 consumers conducted in March.

More specifically, consumers younger than 44 are more apt to demand remote deposit capture, and Javelin recommends that financial institutions look to market to this segment as they deepen their financial relationships. In the survey, 18 percent of respondents ages 18 to 24 said they found remote deposit capture “very desirable,” 18 percent said “desirable,” and 36percent said “somewhat desirable. Those consumers ages 25 to 34 also reported similar interest.

In terms of income, of those consumers surveyed who made more than $150,000 per year, 20 percent percent said mobile remote deposit capture was “very desirable,” while 15 percent of those who made between $75,000 and $99,000 said the service was “very desirable.” In contrast, of those consumers who made less than $50,000, 10 percent found the service “very desirable.”

Despite the appetite from young and high-income consumer segments, there are not a lot of banks offering remote deposit capture services. Of the 10 largest U.S. banks, only JPMorgan Chase & Co. (see story), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (see story), and US Bancorp (see story) offer such services. Some others are planning rollouts in the next 12 months, though fraud concerns are holding back faster deployment.

Numerous signs are emerging that consumers consider mobile deposit to be desirable, says Mark Schwanhausser, a senior Javelin analyst, adding “we have concluded that fraud concerns are more myth than reality, especially at this early stage.”

Where mobile remote deposit capture is available, adoption has quickly followed. Chase says consumers have used its QuickDeposit feature for Google Inc. Android phones and Apple Inc. iPhones and iPad 2s to deposit more than $1 billion in the past 10 months. Additionally, PayPal says consumers have used its iPhone app to deposit checks at a clip of about $1 million per month since October, leading it to introduce an Android app a few weeks ago

— PaymentsSource