BioCatch promotes the benefits of behavioural biometrics as South African bank adopts iiDENTIFii facial recognition system
In a bid to digitise some of its processes such as loan approvals and account opening, Standard Bank of South Africa has adopted iiDENTIFii’s DigiME biometric system. By using the technology from iiDENTIFii, the bank seeks to provide a more robust customer authentication process through liveness detection, ID documentation, and selfie biometric checks. The facial recognition system will be based on data provided by the South African Department of Home Affairs.
Gur Geva, the Co-CEO of iiDENTIFii, says: “DigiME is a clear example of how software can provide an innovative solution to online identity verification swiftly and accurately without racial or gender bias. As identity fraud continues to increase, the more the world moves into the digital space, it becomes imperative to ensure that financial services clients are protected in every way possible.” iiDENTIFii says 106 million Rand (about US$6.7 million) was lost solely through banking apps in 2019.
According to a new study by FICO, with 50% of UK banks that employ identity verification in their current account opening process, customers have to be taken out of channel for verification purposes, however, 32% of customers dump an application that forcefully takes them out of channel.
The ‘Germany and UK Banking Survey 2020’ asserts that the prospects of document capture, machine learning technologies, and biometric authentication provides the backbone for change in identity strategy amongst several banks, in addition to growing regulation and a switch to digital platforms by customers.
The study states that 72% of banks in the UK adopt digital identity capturing methods, but as much as 54% of these banks are facing challenges with the reliability of identity validation across channels. Besides, just 29% of banks can perform document capture in-channel, as a result of a lack of integration. The same results hold true for German banks.
The UK and Germany are lagging behind other countries in the provision of hitch-free experiences, according to the study, with 47% of customers in the UK and Germany believing banks offer good or excellent services, compared to 63% in other countries where the FICO survey was conducted.
Sarah Rutherford, FICO’s senior director of identity fraud marketing explains; “historically, identity solutions were developed for face-to-face interactions and have since been adapted to the needs of new channels and products. As digital interaction is accelerated by the impact of COVID-19, it exposes the weaknesses inherent in using identity verification processes that were not intended for digital channels.”
According to FICO, just 7% of UK banks have been able to streamline their processes with complete integration of real-time capture and verification methods during the application process.Also, a paucity of customer information may be slowing down the adoption of one-time-passwords (OTPs) – one of the PSD2 regulations compliance requirements.
For FICO and the banks it surveys, the rationale behind all of this is user authentication through selfie biometrics and ID documents, but an additional level of authentication could be integrated into fraud detection systems.
BioCatch Gives More Insight Into the Benefits of Biometrics Fraud Prevention
A study by BioCatch asserts that a major difference between genuine users of remote services and cybercriminals is that fraudsters are not familiar with the personal data they are supplying, and this is useful for differentiating between them through behavioural biometrics.
The company’s blog post states that a lower than normal knowledge of the data associated with the identity of the individual being presented can be linked with 64% of fraud cases it detects during the account opening process.
In a different blog post, it presents three real-life use cases that it says shows the benefits of behavioural biometrics.
In the first case, instant approval of applications from high-income account applicants led to abuse through mule accounts and credit fraud, until BioCatch provided biometric technology services for risk assessments during the account opening process.
The second case involved a major credit card issuer that had problems balancing low-friction interactions and fraud prevention for customers who travel frequently and need to log in from various devices. After BioCatch started analysing thousands of cognitive and physical behavioural attributes, the card issuer was able to detect fraud and identity theft irrespective of the customer’s location or the device used.
The final case study relates to a payment fraud scheme under the guise of an international cargo of drinking straws. After discovering through BioCatch that the user was supplying stolen and synthetic information, the e-commerce company was able to stop the fraudulent transaction.
