Singapore Banks Are Speeding Up The Authentication Time With Voice Biometrics

Ain’t nobody got time for lengthy authentication processes, especially bank customers. That’s why multiple banks have launched or are in the process of implementing voice biometrics as a verification method for clients #biomagic

Citi Bank, for example, is already using voice recognition technology in Taiwan and plans to launch it in Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia, too. They’re not stopping there, either; the plan is to spread the service across all their banking markets in Asia-Pacific next year. Citi call centers receive about 35 mil. calls annually, all handled manually by operators, so it’s no wonder they want to speed up the process by using voiceprints, something that cannot be reverse engineered once stored and is quicker. 

This new system would reduce the waiting time for each customer by 66%, from 45 seconds to 15 seconds. Reason enough, they believe, for one million customers in this region to use it for authentication in the following year.

Following in their footsteps are DBS Bank and OCBC Bank. These companies are intent on providing more security to their customers, “as they do not need to remember their PIN or divulge personal information in public when on the phone to customer service officers.”, explains Lena Low, executive director of Customer Centre at DBS.

If, until now, financial systems used two-factor authentication – something the user knows and something he possesses – with the implementation of voice biometrics, they could add a third factor, something the user is. 

The only problem? Inadequate devices (for voice and fingerprint authentication) most customers still have and/or insuficient funds for the sort of specialised tools companies would need to implement these solutions. In time, though, these could be overcame.