Both the digital and the biometric worlds are developing so quickly, they have infiltrated every industry to some degree.  Even the traditional banking and financial services sector is seeing these worlds very much establishing themselves amidst it. Only recently did one major global bank announce both fingerprint and voice recognition technology will be viable account login options for customers, while tech giants are slowly infiltrating the banking scene, with Apple Pay no longer novel, but normal.  

There are no services now that can escape the demand for speed and ease from people who engage with them as they live their fast-paced, busy lives. This includes services from their bank.

As people are embracing innovation and evolution, biometric authentication is gaining a good reception as a result. Indeed, our research found as many as 61% of consumers believe that biometric authentication is more secure, or as secure, as current systems in place.

But digital gurus don’t just stop and sit back to admire a good idea. They’re desperate to remain at the top of their game and at the forefront of innovation, so we know it won’t be long before the next ‘Big Idea’ is unveiled. It therefore can’t be long before biometric account management is incorporated into the account application process, which would not only add that extra layer of security but help improve the journey.  This will be particularly valuable as we know four fifths (81%) of people have experienced frustration when going through a financial provider’s ‘digital journey’.

And it’s not only the customers who would benefit. More and more people are just giving up on an online provider if they find the experience is too difficult and protracted, and nearly a third (29%) would completely avoid a certain provider in the future if these frustrations tested consumers past their limits of patience. It is well within a provider’s interests to try and improve the customer journey before they find themselves ruled out as an option.

User experience may well be becoming one of the most important considerations for businesses that have an online offering, but this has to be balanced with robust security and fraud prevention systems too. This is where biometrics naturally has an advantage as it’s generally very difficult to fake fingerprints, voice analysis, iris patterns, vein matching, gait analysis, and so on.

But, as with any other innovative fraud prevention measure - biometric security is likely to be most effective when used as another additional layer to help shut out those fraudsters.