How Banks are Embracing Biometrics Technology to Improve Security

Biometrics technologies is an exciting branch of technology that is gaining popularity at a rapid rate.

It is estimated that between 2020 and 2025, the global biometric technology market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.5%, reaching a total value of $8.5 billion.

Biometrics technology is based on biometrics – a person’s unique characteristics like fingerprint pattern, retina, eye color, voice, etc. Using technology, these unique features are checked to prove the person’s authenticity.

While some of the common trends today are voice recognition, fingerprint identification, and iris recognition, in the future, we can see more rare trends to catch up. These may include:

• Vein prints
• DNA
• Hand geometry

Biometrics Technology in Banking

The banking and fintech industries have been implementing biometrics technology to strengthen the overall security system in the last few years. As these biometric patterns are unique to individuals, they help secure critical information, especially in remote financial transactions.

Over the last few years, many banks have adopted biometrics technology. Biometric technology, today, is replacing token-based banking systems, PIN-based mobile banking, and signature-based branch service access. Various banking activities that are now done with biometrics technology include:

• Fingerprint recognition: This is a popular biometrics technology adopted by banks. A mobile banking system can quickly scan and digitize a fingerprint for authenticated customer access.
• Face recognition: Follows a 3D technology that identifies a person’s face based on their relative feature positioning. This technology is slowly gaining popularity, although some refining is still needed as the recognition is sensitive to different factors like changes in the glass, lighting, hair color, etc.
• Voice recognition: The voice of a customer is captured by the bank from a normal conversation, so there is no need to repeat a scripted phase. Since it can be used anywhere and anytime, it helps flexibility and security.

The Benefit of Biometrics in Banking

Some of the biggest advantages of biometrics technology in the banking industry include:

• Provides a robust security system to a person’s banking information, thus protecting unauthorized access.
• Customer authentication is fast — it takes only a few seconds to do a biometric scan
• The voice recognition system enables an extra layer of security for remote banking transactions.
• With biometric technology-enabled, banks can maintain a comprehensive audit trail of the activities of their employees and customers.
• Apart from banking customers, banks can also implement biometric technologies for their employees to stop internal fraudulent activities.

Biometrics in Banking – Various Use Cases

Let’s see how banks embrace biometrics technology in different areas of banking.

Biometrics in mobile banking

Mobile banking usage has surged tremendously around the globe, especially in the last couple of years. Certain mobile-banking activities can be done via speech or voice recognition systems where the customer has to verify their identity. This builds a sense of trust among customers and ensures the security system.

Biometric as SSO solution

Banks are prone to financial frauds and data breaches where customer data can be compromised. Banks can leverage the Single Sign-On (SSO) feature to authenticate identification, password management, and two-factor authentication and improve security. A biometric SSO solution can add an extra layer to the security level and help the banks in ensuring compliance.

Biometrics in internet banking

Similar to internet banking, certain banks need biometrics verification of their customers to be able to access and operate internet banking. In the wake of growing cyberattacks, such multiple layers of authentications ensure that the customer data and accounts are protected against fraudulent access.

Biometrics in ATM

Customer authentication in ATMs using biometrics and Banking PIN is popular among Western countries and quickly gaining popularity in other countries as well. Iris scanner is especially used as biometrics in ATMs because iris scanners are portable and can be easily installed in ATMs. An iris scanner works by scanning the iris of the person’s eye.

A Use Case: Using ATM without an ATM card

The first cash withdrawal from an ATM happened in England in 1967 using a PIN for authentication. There have been a lot of changes and evolution in technology since then. Today, biometric technologies make it possible to withdraw money from ATMs without using a bank card.

This is how it works.

Once the customer logs in their account details in the banking application using multi-factor authentication, they need to enter a PIN and use the camera for face recognition or put their finger for fingerprint recognition. Once the authentication happens, a virtual analog card appears on the screen. The customer can use this card to withdraw money from the ATM. This can be achieved in two ways: using a smartphone to capture the biometrics details or installing sensors in the ATM. This, in turn, is connected to a central banking system from where it fetches the information and verifies. Looking for digital advancement in the retail banking industry? Verinite has been instrumental in transforming banks in the new age. Get in touch today.