Revolutionary changes to check processing technology in recent years left consumers and financial institutions wanting a safer check product that they feel more confident depositing through the mobile channel.
solutions. Beginning in January, new Photo Safe Deposit™ checks printed by Harland Clarke include advanced security features that are fully backward compatible with existing deposit systems. Financial institutions can now fulfill orders for their account holders with the updated check product.
While the enhanced checks are not reliant on new technology being rolled out, the included Photo Safe Deposit features are unlocked by the advanced computer vision embedded in Mitek’s Mobile Deposit® software®.
Mitek has released software updates to channel partners that leverages these new check features, which financial institutions can roll out to customers at their own pace.
The added benefits require no additional steps for consumers and new checks are printed with the Photo Safe Deposit icon, a camera-lock graphic, on the front. When this is recognized by a mobile device via Mitek’s back-end software, the checks are scanned for integrated security features.
Introducing New Check Security Features
To address subtle vulnerabilities in pre-existing check deposit processing, Mitek and Harland Clarke embedded new security features into Photo Safe Deposit checks.
There are two key check features that strengthen deposits made through the mobile channel when paired with Mitek’s software:
Image Match™
Image Match is the identical magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) code lines printed on both sides of the check. This duplicate data assures financial institutions that the check’s front and back side images are from the same document—a process that minimizes endorsement forgery while also eliminating depositor errors when photographing multiple checks in a single deposit.
Mobile Mark℠
Mobile Mark is a box for users to checkmark when a deposit is made via smartphone, reducing the risk of inadvertently depositing the same check in the future. When one or both add-ons are recognized, transaction integrity is greatly improved.
Advancing the Industry
While this major milestone is part of an industry-wide initiative, it is not necessary for all banks to adopt the new check product in unison for any financial institution to begin benefitting from the advanced security features.
Individual banks can enjoy immediate benefits within their “on-us” ecosystem when they begin issuing Photo Safe checks to their account holders and implementing the new Mitek software features. Any checks written by their account holders to recipients who are also depositors with that same financial institution will enjoy the full and immediate protections of the initiative. For many banks, up to 30% of their deposits are such on-us items.
Learn more. Mitek has published a white paper, Practical Application of Photo Safe Check Stock Features, to help financial institutions and their solution integrators take full advantage of the new check stock.