Mobile account origination still eludes banks, but payday lenders are having no such problem. Just 3% of bank accounts are originated on mobile devices, while better than 30% of payday loans are originated on mobile, according to Mitek CMO Scott Carter.

The reason is that payday customers, often the young and the underbanked, are more comfortable (or dependent) with mobile technology, may lack a traditional computer, and may need funds more urgently.

Mobile origination when done remotely by a self-service customer offers low costs for onboarding for the banks. But the process sees more than 25% of customers abandon the process, often because of the difficulty of typing on smartphones and reading small type. Additionally, 10% of accounts that are successfully opened on mobile are not funded.

According to Mitek, some banks are arming tellers with tablets to help customers sign up for new accounts. This helps acquire more customers and also acclimates users to the mobile user experience. These bank employees can make sure customers fund their accounts and understand how to access their accounts. Test cases are happening now with more than one bank, according to Carter.

Mitek is also looking at photo onboarding for customers of retail stores that offer store-branded cards.

Additionally, Carter said, Mitek is working with a very large bank to implement restrictive endorsement — meaning lower risk is assigned to customers that write “For Deposit Only” along with their signatures on the back of the checks. The idea is that the bank can then relax its usage limits, the cap placed on mobile deposits.

Mitek is located in San Diego, Calif.