Bank Negara Indonesia taps voice biometrics for password resets

Making the business case for biometrics with a 'closed' group of employees no doubt easier than for an 'open' group of customers.

Costs for a biometrics solution fall under a number of headings - capital investment in the system, cost per registration (to create the reference biometric) and cost of validation (checking identity).

With employees, the bank can at least insist on registration, with is much more difficult with a customer group who don't necessarily see the value.

But the other question remains - why is the bank applying a higher degree of security just because the system is automated?  When an employee calls the help desk, what checks does the agent apply?  Most likely, they just ask for some personal details - an employee number, maybe a department name or email address, maybe date of birth.  All of these could be handled by straightforward speech recognition, no need for expensive biometrics and no need for pre-registration.

So even if there is a business case for biometrics, there is a better one for a simpler solution ...