It’s all about the looks: customers want more mobile and they want it biometric-secure

We’re constantly on the move, looking to stretch our time as much as we can so we can get more things done quicker. Undoubtedly, smartphones and tablets have turned into our best allies and enabled us to manage our daily life, from shopping to banking; from researching our next trip to buying a house.

This trend is particularly noticeable in financial services. For example, research from the fourth annual MasterCard Mobile Payments Study finds cardholders are increasingly asking for mobile payment options. Meanwhile, MasterCard and PRIME Research compiled 2 million global social media comments about mobile payments in 2015 – compared to about 85,000 similar posts they found in their 2012 study. Biometrics and the prospect of no more passwords were among the most engaging topics based on social conversations in 163 countries. The most talked about biometric payment options were fingerprint, electrocardiogram (ECG) technology and facial recognition

Biometrics are an ideal enabler for validating online transactions when compared to more traditional options such as passwords and knowledge based authentication.  But an often overlooked key to facilitating secure biometric authentication starts with a strong identity verification process. It’s critical to offer a simple and effective user experience when it comes to associating the face or other biometric traits used for biometric authentication with the authorized individual.

A forecast from Goode Intelligence predicts one billion customers will use biometrics to access banking services by 2017. Taking into account that the number of mobile banking users globally is forecast to double to 1.8 billion over the next four years, representing over 25% of the world’s population according to KPMG, biometric authentication could be especially beneficial and attractive to different demographics ranging from millennials to older individuals, from mature entrepreneurs to military services members.

Truth is that, in the same way that traditional banking is slowly falling out of favor with the average end consumer, traditional means of authentication and verification are also becoming less popular. The industry is continuously looking for efficient ways to make this appetite for mobile payments and digital banking compatible with today’s security and compliance requirements.

At Mitek, we see how banks that have incorporated biometric based authentication into their mobile payment process are already enjoying increased approval rates, improved cardholder loyalty and a stronger fraud protection.

We are noticing an increasing interest among financial institutions on new solutions that allow end-users to complete that biometric association step in minutes. They normally favorite options that are easy to embed in a mobile app to enable end-users to automatically and quickly scan their photo ID and combine the data extracted with some form of biometrics (we see facial recognition as a clear winner). The outcome? An authentic and verified digital identity for ongoing authentication use.  

Additionally, the adoption of biometrics will make the whole identity verification process faster and more secure, adding a second factor of authentication and making it easier for banks and financial institutions to comply with current KYC and AML regulations.