Wells Fargo Rolls Out Mobile Remote Deposit

Wells Fargo (WFC) has begun rolling out mobile remote deposit in select markets and plans to offer the service nationwide by the end of this year, according to a news report.

Brian Pearce, who heads the mobile banking channel in Wells Fargo's Internet services group, said in an interview with the San Francisco Business Times Tuesday that its service has already been launched in Arizona and Washington state and debuts this week in the San Francisco area, as well as in Nebraska and Kansas.

The service, which allows a customer to deposit a check by snapping a picture of it with a smartphone, will be available to customers using the Wells Fargo app on their Apple or Android hand-held devices. Wells had roughly 7.7 million mobile customers at the end of the first quarter and Pearce said in the interview the remote deposit capture is the service they ask about most often.

Only about half of the nation's 15 largest banks offer mobile remote deposit to their customers, though it is expected that most will have it in place within a year. BB&T (BBT) is among the regional banks that recently began offering the service and Bank of America (BAC) is expected to offer it to all of its mobile banking customers by year's end.

Some banks, including BB&T and U.S. Bancorp (USB), charge a per-check fee for mobile deposits but Wells Fargo plans to offer the service for free, the San Francisco Business Times reported.

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