ING demos voice biometrics for banking app

ING says it is the first bank in Europe to offer voice recognition biometric capabilities by offering voice control mode in its mobile banking app in the Netherlands.

Inge is the bank’s new voice control mode that enables hands-free banking, which provides an alternative to touch screen banking.

“Inge is a new way of making mobile banking easy for our customers,” said Max Mouwen, general manager of Internet and Mobile ING Netherlands. “The feature makes it possible, for instance, to read out loud the requested IBAN number instead of typing it, which makes handling your banking affairs easier.”

Every voice has its own specific qualities, making it suitable as a unique and secure password. Customers can enable or disable voice control through the set-up menu in the Mobile Banking App.

ING posted a video demonstrating the use of Inge.

The company will begin introducing Inge in phases in the Netherlands. Currently, there are 1.9 million ING customers using the ING Mobile Banking App in the Netherlands and logging in on an average of six times a week.

ING customers will be able to use their voice to check their bank balances or make payments in mid-September, with authorization and logging on through voice recognition to be introduced later this year.

ING is initially inviting a select group of customers to use voice recognition before its official kick-off.

The company said it will use the customer feedback to improve the new feature before it introduces voice recognition to all customers.

(UPDATE) Nuance Communications powers ING voice biometrics mobile app

Article Topics

banking  |  biometrics  |  Europe  |  voice recognition