Banks Deploying Biometrics for Ever-wider Range of Remote and In-branch Interactions

By Chris Burt

Banking is being reshaped by several forces, including digitization and online service delivery, and biometrics are vying for a major role in different types of interactions for financial services. Industry publication The Banker notes that synthetic identity fraud is expected by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services to generate $23 billion in fraud losses by 2030, and stakeholders see biometrics as the tool they need to fight back.

Executives from UBS and iProov say biometrics can provide a cheaper, easier way to perform banking transactions, and also back reusable digital IDs.

Consumers appear to be ready, with a survey from PYMNTS Intelligence and AWS showing just over half of those who made an online purchase in a specified period using biometric authentication.

“Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Biometric Authentication in the Age of Mobile” also indicates that 49 percent of consumers favor fingerprint recognition among biometric authentication methods, ahead of 28 percent for facial recognition. Most of those who use face biometrics do so frequently, however, with 60 percent saying they use it at least weekly.

Not surprising, but encouraging for future uptake of biometrics, younger respondents use the technology much more often than seniors and baby boomers. Slightly over a third of survey respondents do not want to use biometrics at all.

UBS is pushing regulators to allow multiple biometrics to be used for authentication, in the absence of a knowledge or possession factor. This could be more secure and frictionless, and UBS Executive Director Pascal Tavernier says “that’s the future.”

Remote payments

In remote payments, the future is now.

Fourthline and Buy Now Pay Later payment processor Scalapay have formed a strategic partnership to help businesses comply with know you customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

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Fourthline is contributing its face biometrics, optical character recognition and other proprietary technologies to allow Scalapay customer to adapt to changing regulatory conditions, according to the announcement.

iDenfy has been selected by Germany-based online marketplace Quoka to handle identity verification with selfie biometrics, protecting buyers and sellers against fraud.

Lithuanian fintech NomadRem has also chosen iDenfy to protect its online money transfers, bill payments and other transactions from fraud.

Online onboarding

Stopping fraudsters before they can open an account is the most established use case for biometrics in financial services.

Socure is providing its biometric identity verification and fraud prevention platform to credit union tech provider eCU Technology for secure, real-time customer onboarding.

Personalized banking platform provider Backbase has turned to Frankie One for biometric verification, transaction monitoring and compliance capabilities. The addition of FrankieOne’s technology is considered an important enabler of Backbase’s recently-released Engagement Banking Cloud (EBC), according to the announcement.

Biometrics are also being built into software to tie together remote platforms.

Bonifii’s biometric authentication is being built into FIVEGPT, digital banking software co-developed by Bonifii and Best Innovation Group (BIG), based on the latter’s FIVE voice banking platform. The solution is intended to connect voice interfaces, online platforms and call centers.

In-person banking

Biometrics are also being deployed in bank branches to improve convenience for customers, and also extend financial inclusion measures.

Papua New Guinean bank Nasfund Contributors Savings and Loan Society (NCSL) has deployed a biometric identification system for account access by members at its branch in Lae, reports The National.

A self-service kiosk has been installed at the branch to allow loan applications, transfers, withdrawals, and e-statement access through biometric authentication. A second self-service machine is slated for installation at Lae Market in the weeks ahead.

Automated teller machines (ATMs) with iProov biometrics and liveness detection in Singapore have been awarded for innovation, according to Gov Insider.

The island nation’s Central Provident Fund spearheaded the launch of OCBC ATMs with iProov face biometrics in collaboration with Singapore’s Government Technology Agency.

The machines allow government benefits recipients to withdraw cash even without an OCBC account, and have won the “Best Adoption Award” at the local Techblazer Awards.

Source: Biometric Update

Chris Burt is managing editor and industry analyst at Biometric Update. He has also written nonfiction about information technology, dramatic arts, sports culture, and fantasy basketball, as well as fiction about a doomed astronaut. He lives in Toronto. You can follow him on Twitter @AFakeChrisBurt.

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