Mitek, a provider of mobile capture and identity verification software product, has announced the addition of NFC capability to its Mobile Verify product, according to a press release.

By adding NFC, Mobile Verify can now read the biometric data embedded on RFID chips, delivering definitive authentication assurance simply by touching the document to the smartphone.

Almost 1 billion ePassports with embedded RFID chips have been issued to date and 3.6 billion people are expected to use RFID chip-enabled ID cards by 2021.These documents are becoming the standard for identity verification and the preferred government-issued root credential.

"Global business in the banking, payments, sharing, education and lending industries need modern methods for ensuring the identities of their users and verifying electronic ID documents," James DeBello, chairman and CEO of Mitek, said in the release. "Mobile Verify with NFC creates a faster, easier and extremely secure digital identity verification process for billions of people around the world."