LAS VEGAS  — Ask Jim DeBello, CEO of San Diego-based Mitek, how a financial institution can ramp up use of digital bill payment tools and the man whose company is built around scanning checks for mobile deposit has an answer that both surprises and makes perfect sense.

Mitek is known for its mobile RDC tools – in use in 150+ credit unions, said DeBello – but what he suggested to Credit Union Times in a sideline interview Monday at the bustling Money2020 conference in Las Vegas is that Mitek's next play is tools that will let users snap a picture of a bill using a smartphone and Mitek software will recognize who is being paid how much and how.

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That means DeBello is in effect discouraging check writing – Mitek's lifeblood – because he smells a huge opportunity in mobile bill payment via camera.

There are millions of credit union members who do not use online bill pay; they are not likely candidates for near-term conversion to mobile bill pay, but, said DeBello, they just might jump on paying a bill by taking a picture of it.  "This is about making the consumer's life easier," he said..