Eight in 10 Brits would opt for biometric security

An online poll of 2,000 consumers in the UK commissioned by Intelligent Environments has found that eight in 10 Britons are willing to using biometric security measures like fingerprint recognition, instead of traditional alphanumeric passwords.

The firm believes that iPhone 5s sales of more than 10 million in the United Kingdom have led to a major shift in consumer attitudes toward biometrics, as consumers become used to Apple’s intuitive Touch ID fingerprint scanner, which is predicted to be incorporated into iPads shortly.

The poll also found that 53 percent of UK financial service customers want their banks to integrate fingerprint scanners into their digital banking services. The least popular method was found to be voice recognition, which was only popular with just over a quarter (27 percent) of banking customers.

“In the battle of the biometrics, it’s not surprising that fingerprint scanners come out on top as more people are getting used to them being built into mobile devices,” stated Clayton Locke, Chief Technology Officer at Intelligent Environments.

While acknowledging that UK banks are re-evaluating passwords, Locke suggests that they need to start looking at how they can satisfy the rapidly escalating customer demand for biometrics by looking at implementing a range of options that best suit banking customers’ needs.

Locke suggested this approach in response to poll finding that half (51 percent) of UK customers expect their bank to introduce more innovative security measures in the near to immediate term.

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