Standard Bank is slowly but surely taking baby steps towards fingerprint banking in the form of biometric technology. Standard Bank iPhone and iPad users with device fingerprint readers were recently upgraded to use the hardware to log on to the banking application.
“Standard Bank plans to roll out this feature to biometrically-enabled Android phones in the near future,” say sMagnus Taljaard, head of Mobile Banking at Standard Bank.
So far in South Africa, Samsung and Huawei are the only other brands that offer fingerprint access.
While Capitec has embraced biometric technology in their branches, Standard Bank says that the technology gives them a competitive edge.
Traditional PIN
“With the latest upgrade to our banking apps, customers with Touch ID-enabled smartphones and tablets have the option to use Apple’s fingerprint identity sensor to sign into our mobile banking apps. This gives the promise of ‘banking at your fingertips’ an added dimension – and gives Standard Bank the competitive edge as we were the first South African bank to implement the technology,” Taljaard said.
In the event of not all customers willing to biometric banking, that the additional pin number will continue to be available on certain functionalities will demand additional security, like adding beneficiaries to your account.
“There has been a very positive response from our customers to date, and many customers are saying that the TouchID feature has simplified their banking experience. It is important to note that the ability to sign in to mobile banking using the fingerprint sensor is combined with an additional security layer for certain transactions, for example when paying new beneficiaries,” said Taljaard.
It is estimated that the number of people will download biometric enabled applications will rise to over 770 million 2019. But Standard Bank expressed caution when asked about implementing the technology at local ATMs.
“We are evaluating a number of promising biometric solutions that could benefit our customers. All solutions undergo rigorous testing by the bank and, just as importantly, we test these solutions with our customers to ensure these meet their needs, before releasing it to the market,” Taljaard said.
