Biometrics and banking, access control and fingerprint technology trending this week

Here is a recap of the most popular biometrics industry news that appeared on BiometricUpdate.com this past week.

Financial services

Wells Fargo has been recognized with the “Most Innovative Feature Award” for its mobile biometric authentication application in its Commercial Electronics Office (CEO) portal by Barlow Research’s 2016 Monarch Innovation Awards. The bank has combined multiple biometric characteristics, including face plus voice and eyeprint id, to significantly improve security while simplifying the user experience for mobile banking access.

Morpho is presenting biometric payment technology that combines security and facility for consumers as part of a Visa Europe exhibition in Paris, France this month. The first demonstration includes the use of MorphoWave technology for Visa proximity payments, a touchless solution that captures and matches four fingerprints in less than a second. The second demonstration features authentication of a Visa online payment with facial recognition via a smartphone.

According to a recent Mobey Forum report, the use of biometrics in banking and payment systems is on the verge of becoming mainstream as “the vast majority of banks intend to implement biometrics in the relatively near future, just as the number of handset manufacturers planning to integrate biometric capabilities into their devices rises.” Acuity Market Intelligence recently said that 600 million biometric smartphones incorporating fingerprint, iris, and eye-vein biometrics are currently in use representing 28% of the global installed base.

India’s DCB Bank has introduced an Aadhaar-based ATM where a customer can initiate transactions using their Aadhaar number and biometric details instead of a PIN. The user keys in the 12-digit Aadhaar number or swipes their identity card at the ATM to initiate a transaction and then confirms their identity using the fingerprint scanner. Aadhaar, recognized as the world’s largest universal civil ID program and biometric database, is currently used by the Indian government to provide services to more than a billion people.

Diebold’s mobile-driven ATM concept is now on display at the Diebold Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Center of Innovation in Belgium. The ATM concept features: bring your own device access; transactions scheduled using the bank’s mobile app on the consumer’s smartphone; consumer-recognition technology; instant access to cash through contactless, and; mobile-banking methods such as QR codes, NFC and iris biometrics technology.

Mobile only startup Atom Bank has gone live in the UK following the lifting of regulatory restrictions. The bank uses face and voice biometrics plus machine learning technology to authenticate and service clients. The Atom app will initially be made available now for iPhone and iPad users who have pre-registered via the bank’s website. Atom Bank has raised more than £135m in capital since April 2014 through more than 100 private and institutional investors including Spanish bank BBVA.

Access control

Last week’s ISC West security trade show saw a number of demonstrations and educational sessions about a broad range of biometric technology and identity solutions from firms including BioConnect, Suprema, ISONAS, HID Global, Morpho, SecuGen, Matrix, Northrop Grumman and SRI Identity. ISC WEST is the largest security industry trade show in the U.S., seeing technical representatives from more than one thousand exhibitors and brands in the security industry and over 28,000 security professionals in attendance.

In an effort to expand its overseas business, South Korean biometric technology firm VIRDI has integrated its access control solution with HIKVISION. The new solution brings multi-factor recognition to the HIKVISION iVMS-5200P video surveillance software by allowing various authentication methods, such as a card, pin number, fingerprint, face, and mobile key.

Suprema’s new BioStation L2 fingerprint terminal offers premium features and performance together with essential hardware to provide a comprehensive access control and time and attendance solution. BioStation L2 also features new live finger detection technology with improved algorithms and optical techniques that effectively eliminate possible fraud using various materials or fake fingers.

Intent Solutions, a health technology and data company, introduced a new medical device technology called TAD, “Take As Directed”, at last month’s National Rx Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit. The device is designed to be pre-programmed with the prescribed regimen and patient biometrics. The device notifies the patient that it’s time to take the pill, scans their fingerprint to authenticate the patient, delivers the pill, and records the data.

Fingerprint technology

According to a report by Trend Micro, a massive breach of the database of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has leaked a huge number of voters’ personal identifiable information, including passport information and fingerprint data. The data dumps apparently includes 1.3 million records of overseas Filipino voters, which includes passport numbers and expiry dates, 15.8 million records of fingerprints and a list of people running for office since the 2010 elections.

Fingerprint Cards (FPC) is releasing an improved algorithm to mobile device manufacturers that is applicable for all touch fingerprint sensors in FPC’s product portfolio. The algorithm takes advantage of FPC’s market leading image quality and is specifically optimized for fast execution on smartphone platforms. In related news, FPC announced that its Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4, 2016 at Hotel Gothia Towers in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Travel documents

Ireland’s new selfie-friendly passport card was a joint winner of the Best Regional ID Document at last month’s High Security Printing Europe Conference. The new passport card was introduced last October and allows the user to upload a selfie, or passport compliant photo taken on a mobile phone, which appears on the ID. The card is valid for five years and is good for entry to 30 EU countries, as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

VFS Global and UK Visas and Immigration have introduced an “On Demand Mobile Biometrics” service for UK visa applicants in India. The on-demand service costs just over $1,000 USD or about Rs 70,000 for up to 10 applicants and the visa fee is extra. VFS Global will send a small team to the applicant’s location to complete the biometric enrollment process which includes taking fingerprints and a face photo.

Market research

The Consumer Technology Association has released a new report entitled Biometric Technologies: Understanding Consumer Sentiment, which captures consumers’ perception levels with various biometrics uses and settings, along with their trust levels with the organizations that are likely to manage biometric data. The report finds that as the number of consumer technology products with biometric sensors grows, 62 percent of U.S. adults who have used biometric technology are comfortable with it.

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Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  banking  |  biometrics  |  epassport  |  healthcare  |  Ireland  |  market research  |  morpho  |  Philippines  |  travel documents