Mobile RDC seen taking off

Mobile remote deposit capture is becoming the preferred deposit method for a growing number of bank customers, says Celent.

“As check usage continues to decline, mobile RDC will become increasingly relevant—not just for mobile use cases, but more broadly,” says Bob Meara, a senior analyst with Celent’s Banking practice and author of a recent report. “Mobile RDC is becoming the new scanner, with banks racing to offer mRDC to small business and commercial clients. This will have a profound effect on the branch channel at many institutions as branch visits are replaced with digital deposits.”

mRDC stands out

Celent expects RDC to account for a third of retail bank deposits by yearend 2015 and half by 2016. However, mobile RDC is where the action is, it says.

As RDC becomes a mature market in the U.S., most distributed capture methods—branch capture, image ATM, merchant capture—have plateaued.

Mobile RDC is the exception. With more than half of mobile banking users enjoying the benefits of mRDC, demand is now growing among small business and commercial users, according to Celent’s Meara. As this occurs, mRDC will accelerate the decline in branch foot traffic.

Celent predicts that through 2016, more than 6,000 financial institutions will offer mRDC, which will be used by approximately 87 million customers. That would be up from about 5,000 financial institutions this year, and 62 million end users.