{"id":28726,"date":"2019-09-04T15:38:20","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T14:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/?p=28726"},"modified":"2019-09-06T10:22:57","modified_gmt":"2019-09-06T09:22:57","slug":"why-biometric-technology-will-be-key-to-digital-transformation-for-sa-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/2019\/09\/04\/why-biometric-technology-will-be-key-to-digital-transformation-for-sa-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"Why biometric technology will be Key to Digital Transformation for South Africa Banks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As South Africa\u2019s banking sector embarks upon Digital Transformation and the shift to branchless banking, cybersecurity and fraud prevention will have to be top of the mind. By Lance Fanaroff, Director at iiDENTIFii, says that, while the race to provide quick and efficient mobile banking solutions is driving innovation, it also creates new opportunities for shrewd cyber criminals and hackers. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it stands, the South African Banking Information Centre\n(SABRIC) reported that in 2018, digital banking fraud across all platforms\nresulted in over R262 million in losses, with the number of incidents\nincreasing over 75%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the face of this challenge, many banks are being forced to\nrethink their security procedures \u2013 while also balancing increasing consumer\ndemand for a mobile and friction-free banking experience. Today, the growing\npressure to strike this balance has been driving increasing adoption of\nbiometric technology solutions amongst banks and other financial institutions.\nPut simply, biometrics refers to the use of technology to identify a\nperson based on some aspect of their biology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the use of biometrics used to be limited to governments and\nhigh security environments, rapid advancements in the technology \u2013 coupled with\nincreasing smartphone penetration \u2013 are making biometric solutions ever more\nattractive (and accessible) for banks looking to digitise their processes.\nIndeed, by harnessing the sophisticated cameras, sensors and rich applications\nthat smartphones now offer, banks can explore new solutions that meet customer\ndemands for mobile, quick and engaging banking capabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such example is remote on-boarding. By using advanced\nbiometric digital authentication technology platforms, savvy banks can now\nenable new customers to open accounts and begin transacting without having to\ngo into a branch and submit reams of paperwork. This type of capability will\narguably become more and more important as banks compete to win market share\namongst demanding, digitally savvy young customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Liveness\u2019 detection is key<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While interest and investment in biometric authentication\ntechnology is rising in line with rapid digitisation, it is imperative that\nbanks choose robust solutions. When harnessing biometric technology to prevent\nfraud, the key element is liveness detection; the ability to determine whether\nthe source of a biometric sample is a live human being or a fake\nrepresentation. Today, many banks and organisations are using gesture-based\nbiometric techniques. This is problematic and represents a security\nvulnerability because this technology is quite easily spoofed and\/or\nhacked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is critical that banks explore newer and more advanced biometric authentication solutions that have more sophisticated liveness detection capabilities. For example, there are new solutions that leverage facial algorithms and 3D image detection \u2013 thereby achieving accurate proof of liveness with a facial recognition system that is multiple times harder to spoof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balancing innovation with efficient processes  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to choosing a biometric authentication solution that\nis current and leading edge, banks and organisations have to ensure that\nimplementation is managed correctly. This is key to ensuring that the solution\nis safe and robust, as well as enabling a smooth end user experience. When\nharnessing biometric on-boarding solutions in particular, it is critical that\nthe customer experience is as seamless and friction-less as possible \u2013 thereby\nsupporting the broader move to efficient, digitised, branchless banking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internally, banks should place strong emphasis on the process flow\n\u2013 which requires having skilled managers in place to guide the integration of\nnew biometric solutions within existing infrastructure. Similarly, banks have\nto choose their technology partners very carefully, and drive a transparent, highly\nengaged partnership to ensure that biometrics are integrated in the most agile\nand efficient way. There is inevitably a great deal of governance,\nadministration and red tape involved in any rollout \u2013 so it is imperative that\nevery key stakeholder is engaged and supportive of the integration\nprocess.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, the right technology partner should also advise on the most recent advancements and trends within biometric authentication and fraud prevention that are impacting the global financial services sphere. For example, as customer databases become more important and serve as competitive differentiators, banks should explore Blockchain technology as a way of securing highly sensitive biometric data. Looking ahead, biometric databases will need to be impenetrable \u2013 and Blockchain technology can arguably fulfil this requirement while also supporting ongoing innovation within banking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lance Fanaroff, Director at iiDENTIFii<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Embracing a future-proof security solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no doubt that the digital race is on – banks are now\ncompeting to win the loyalty of increasingly fickle, demanding and digitally\nnative customers. The winners will almost certainly be the banking providers\nwho can effectively balance the need for mobility and convenience with robust\nsecurity and sophisticated fraud prevention. Today, biometric authentication\ntechnology is proving to be one of the most reliable ways of achieving this\nbalance and will potentially become even more integral to banking security in\nthe years to come. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As South Africa\u2019s banking sector embarks upon Digital Transformation and the shift to branchless banking, cybersecurity and fraud prevention will have to be top of the mind. By Lance Fanaroff, Director at iiDENTIFii, says that, while the race to provide quick and efficient mobile banking solutions is driving innovation, it also creates new opportunities for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":28727,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4950,565,7383,328,136,821,6,19,260,9059,10675,13,262],"tags":[1316,676,95,388,389,9019,9707,9706,10902,453,10903],"class_list":["post-28726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-banking-finance","category-digital-transformation","category-features","category-industry-expert","category-infographics","category-insights","category-regional-news","category-regional-news-newsletter","category-south-africa","category-thought-leadership","category-top-stories","category-used","tag-biometrics","tag-blockchain","tag-cyber-criminals","tag-cybersecurity","tag-digital-transformation","tag-fraud-prevention","tag-iidentifii","tag-lance-fanaroff","tag-sabric","tag-south-africa","tag-south-african-banking-information-centre"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28726"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28799,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28726\/revisions\/28799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intelligentcio.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}