Integrated biometrics andspecialized mobile banking apps are working in tandem to bring two majorbenefits to financial institutions and their customers.
Mobile banking is notexactly new anymore, but it is the target of heightenedsecurity scrutiny. Afterall, mobile devices get lost and stolen all the time. It’s one thing to losethe money in your wallet and your easily cancelled credit cards. It’s anotherthing entirely to lose the device that is a gateway to your banking andinvestment accounts.
Physical access toyour smartphone is not even the entire problem. Anti-malware software is far lessprevalent on mobile devices than it is on desktops and laptops.
There’s concern insome quarters that the industry is not quite ready for mobile banking. Yet, mobile bankingproponents argue that, between instant pushnotifications and geolocation tracking, mobile banking allows for customers tomonitor fraud in real time alongside their banking institutions.
Combined with newermobile devices that often are equipped with the latest in biometric and encryptiontechnologies, many of oursmartphones may well be more secure than our desktop or laptop computers.
With mobile devicesso in demand today, and mobile banking being so popular, the security of themany mobile phones and tablets in use are top-of-mind for banking customers. In addition to the various securityapproaches recommended by the FFIEC and other organizations, some financialinstitutions are employing new techniques, such as voice recognition andbiometrics to uniquely identify banking customers. Biometrics, such as fingerprint ID or eyescanning, are either currently available or will be available soon in somemarkets, and offer the potential layers of security that can benefit both usersand FIs.
Overview by Ed O’Brien, Director, Banking Channels for Mercator Advisory Group
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