Biometric authentication in the New Banking world

Authentication in the New

The idea of an authentication hub will allow customers to sign on to accounts seamlessly using one authentication method. Banking customers can now use biometric authentication at ATMs, and some are also pioneering new authentication methods, such as social login. A single, simple interface would eliminate the need for customers to authenticate on individual applications.

This new type of authentication platform would facilitate multi-factor and multi-modal authentication and use data from transactions, risk and fraud systems to make informed decisions about what the customer can do. Because the framework only needs to be integrated once to provide access to all the authenticators, it is easy to reuse them for many business functions—such as transaction authorization, third-party access via APIs or cross-channel authentication from branches or contact centers.

Components of the authentication hub explained:

Mobile Know Your Customer (mKYC) technology to facilitate identification and verification for digital user enrollment and account sign-up

Biometric Authentication Framework to integrate biometric authenticators, such as voice and fingerprints

Pick and choose authenticators that allow users to nominate how they authenticate within acceptable security baselines, including the ability to plug and play legacy authenticators, such as OTPs, PINs and pattern drawing; as needed

Risk engine aligned to fraud, and that provide information and context on users, behaviors, devices and transactions

Signing in the New with both tactical and strategic solution to eliminate wet signature in both the short and long term

Pick and choose authenticators

Banks must define how biometric authentication will help them reach their objectives. Biometric technology in smartphones and wearables offer many new authentication capabilities that can seamlessly work together through the Authentication Hub. An omni-channel vision can help firms determine which authenticators are most useful. These will be deployed on a flexible, compliance and secure architecture via a hybrid approach to take advantage of the benefits of both a centralized server environment and on-device security.

In addition to giving the business more choice, a flexible hub architecture also provides much greater consumer choice by allowing end users to select their preferred means of authentication—within the risk guidelines defined by the hub.

Deploying an Authentication Hub requires careful consideration and a vision for how authenticators can be reused to solve wider business problems, such as document signing and transaction authorization. Now is the ideal time for firms to explore how this technology can help them improve customer service and cybersecurity. Read the report to learn more about the technical capabilities and use cases for the Authentication Hub.