Trustonic, OneSpan, Nivo, IDYou, Huawei implement biometrics to secure bank and mortgage apps

Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank now offers fingerprint or facial biometrics for a simpler authentication experience through a successful implementation of Trustonic Application Protection (TAP) in the KB Star Banking app.

The bank combined Trustonic’s TAP with its new digital authentication certificates to ease customer access to banking services, and allow them to authenticate higher-value transactions in the app without requiring cumbersome security tokens or unified user verification, Trustonic says in an announcement. Transactions up to 2 million won (roughly US$1,700) can now be made through the app with just a password, while transactions up to 500 million won ($413,000) can be verified through password, PIN, and an authenticated code delivered with an automated phone call.

“In Korea, users need to install authentication certificates to use mobile banking services,” states Kookmin Bank Senior Executive Vice President Mr. Han. “This can be a complex and time-consuming process that often requires revalidation and multiple passwords. With our long-standing partner Trustonic, we are able to vastly improve the in-app user experience and allow our users to authorize much higher value transactions. Some security solutions make you choose between security, user experience and performance but with TAP there’s no compromise.”

KB Bank provides online and mobile banking services to more than 10 million customers, and has Korea’s largest mobile user base, with 3 million users since the app launched in the summer of 2019.

OneSpan SDKs add biometrics to Sony Bank app

Sony Bank has announced it is implementing OneSpan’s Mobile Security Suite to protect mobile banking transactions and improve customer experiences with facial recognition and fingerprint biometrics, according to a company announcement.

OneSpan’s suite of mobile SDKs provide application security, biometric authentication and Application Shielding, a feature which detects and mitigates fraud to ensure the protection of apps and data.

“OneSpan’s Trusted Identity solutions enable banks to simultaneously fight an ever-increasing number of threats while ensuring a seamless and easy customer experience,” says OneSpan CEO Scott Clements. “With Gartner predicting that by 2022, at least 50 percent of successful attacks against mobile apps could have been prevented using in-app protection, Sony Bank is taking the right steps to future-proof its business.”

The global move towards Open Banking has played a significant role in the development of new regulations for the financial sector, including PSD2, OneSpan says, and implementing the company’s technology allows Sony Bank to address those requirements and address future regulation.

Nivo powers remote ID verification for second mortgage applications

Customers of Freedom Finance’s Optimum Credit can now apply for a second mortgage with secure communications using the Nivo platform and Nivo ID Passport to share personal information and their biometric identity profile with brokers and lenders, which eliminates days of effort and speeds up approvals, according to an announcement from Nivo.

Nivo has been digitizing broker operations for Freedom Finance since 2018, allowing customer interactions through secure instant messaging, and combining open banking and biometric identity verification features to improve the application process. In traditional verification processes, a courier would be sent by the broker to check ID documents and loan evidence. Documents would be sent by post or email to the lender, who would perform various compliance checks. Nivo now enables the same checks through a single central copy of customer personal information and identity data. The customer owns the data, and must provide consent for any service provider on the Nivo network to view it.

A representative of Optimum Credit says in the announcement that the technology helps deliver a smoother and quicker customer journey, and reduces identity theft and impersonation risks.

“We hear a lot of talk in the industry about a future where customers can share a central trusted identity with multiple providers, so we’re proud to have partnered with Nivo to actually make it happen for the first time in our industry,” comments Freedom Finance Head of Digital Operations Josh Bowe. “It’s the latest in a series of customer-focused improvements we’ve delivered together, and we’re already seeing the benefits of Nivo ID Passporting in increasing the number of customers through to Optimum Credit through the service.”

IDYou biometrics secure remote mortgage applications

Resimac, an Australian non-bank mortgage provider, has partnered with First Mortgage Services (FMS) and MSA National to enable remote identity verification with the latter’s IDYou app, Australian Broker reports.

IDYou is secured for brokers with fingerprint biometrics, and provides remote identity verification with a biometric selfie and ID document check.

Resimac GM of Distribution Daniel Carde says the company is attempting to help brokers conduct “business as usual,” and is continuing development to that end.

“Thanks to our new panel solicitor arrangement, we are putting the final touches on a digital loan document solution that will see the loan document pack emailed directly to the borrower, ready for digital execution and return,” he says. “Essentially this is completely paperless and includes the ability to upload property insurance and other related documents required for settlement.”

Resimac is also providing a simplified application process for six-month repayment holidays due to financial hardship, and doubling its team handling hardship applications.

Huawei launches biometric retail payment app

Huawei has introduced a new feature which allows users to make contactless payments secured with facial and fingerprint biometric authentication at points-of-sale in participating retailers, writes AsiaOne.

ICBC Singapore is the first bank to support Huawei Pay in the country, and is providing incentives in the form of Huawei Points and cash back for registering an ICBC card and completing payment transactions in different tiers, respectively.

Huawei Pay is delivered through the Huawei Wallet app, which comes pre-loaded on the newly-launched Huawei P40. It is developed by Huawei Mobile Services and UnionPay, so is accepted in all locations with contactless UnionPay support, in addition to in-app purchases.

AsiaOne speculates that POSB and DBS are likely to join ICBC in supporting Huawei Pay, as their banking apps are included in Huawei’s AppGallery.

Article Topics

authentication  |  banking  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  financial services  |  Huawei  |  identity verification  |  mobile app  |  Nivo  |  OneSpan  |  open banking  |  Trustonic