Erste Bank und Sparkassen is taking advantage of new rules in Austria to let people open accounts from the comfort of their own homes via video chat.
Thanks to Austrian Financial Market Authority regulations which came into effect this month, new customers with passports, national identity cards or drivers' licenses can identify themselves via video chat from their computers and mobile devices.
In a 10 minute process, customers upload the photo in a government-issued ID and the data it contains is automatically transferred to the relevant bank form. Then during a video chat with a bank employee, technology from vendor IDnow identifies the customer.
"We are the first large Austrian bank to offer this innovative option to new customers, implementing it just three weeks after the authorities approved the procedure," says Thomas Schaufler, chief retail officer, Erste Bank.
"Our introduction of online video identification also eliminates what had previously been a significant competitive advantage for fintech companies."