JPMorgan Chase & Co. recently became the first of the major U.S. financial institution to offer mobile remote-deposit capture. Launched July 2, the service enables customers to deposit checks into their accounts using images captured with cameras on their Apple Inc. iPhones.
The service is available as part of the bank’s revised mobile-banking application.
“This is one more way we can provide convenience for our customers,” says Tom Kelly, a Chase spokesperson.
Many observers believe such a move would help move mobile banking from a niche service to a mainstream product.
Bank of America Corp. last year reportedly had planned to test mobile remote-deposit capture for the iPhone (
ComScore Inc., a digital marketing firm, estimates that about 35% of all U.S. consumers using their mobile phones for financial services are BofA customers; Chase followed with 12% share.
Nicole Sturgill, research director for delivery channels at TowerGroup, a Needham, Mass.-based a unit of Corporate Executive Board Co., believes any rumors connecting BofA to mobile remote-deposit capture may have been premature.
“There are a lot of banks talking about remote-deposit capture, but it’s something a bank can’t go into lightly,” she says.
Chase is not the first financial institution to offer mobile remote-deposit capture via a smart phone. USAA Federal Savings Bank in 2009 introduced Deposit@Mobile as part of its mobile-banking application for the iPhone and Andriod-powered phones (
The San Antonio-based financial-services company primarily serves individuals in the military and their families. Its single branch is located in San Antonio.
Chase’s decision to launch mobile remote-deposit capture suggests the service is not just for financial institutions with a small number of branches, Sturgill says.
Chase’s Quick Deposit offering is similar to USAA’s. Users access the service through Chase’s mobile-banking application. They then capture images of the front and back of a check with the camera on their phones, and the application sends the images to the bank, which verifies the check’s validity and deposits the funds into the individual’s account.
The service is limited to $1,000 per day and $3,000 per month.
Unlike USAA, Chase has a large ATM network that includes some 5,000 machines. The New York-based bank, however, is not concerned about reduced ATM use.
“The bulk of the use for the ATM is still cash,” Kelly says. “[Mobile deposit] is about choice. If they still want to use a teller or ATM to deposit checks, great.”
Chase anticipates a large number of mobile-banking customers will use the service. Some customers already are praising the feature through reviews left at Apple’s App Store.
The bank has “fiercely loyal [mobile-banking] users, and they will be very appreciative that Chase has this for them,” Kelly says.
Chase declined to reveal how many customers have downloaded the iPhone app, and Kelly could not say when a Chase mobile-banking application might be available for Andriod-powered phones. Google Inc. developed the Andriod mobile operating system.
Technology and policy challenges have prevented more banks from offering mobile remote-deposit capture, Sturgill says. Banks not only have to develop the technology but also determine which of the bank’s customers may use the feature and how much they can deposit.
“It’s good that Chase made this leap,” Sturgill says. “I expect that we will hear from more banks [soon].”
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
