Commonwealth Bank of Australia will begin reviewing security technology from a number of potential suppliers in the next four months under plans to introduce two-factor authentication services to its Internet banking customers.
Australian banks are set to introduce an industry standard for two-factor authentication for verifying online banking customers later this year. Each bank is free to choose its own method of secondary identification, which will be used in addition to passwords.
According to a report by the Australian Financial Review, Commonwealth Bank will start soliciting information from potential suppliers of security technology in three to four months.
The bank will make a decision later this year on which additional security measures it will add to its net banking service, although these won't be introduced to customers until 2006.
National Australia Bank said earlier this month that it plans to offer SMS-based two-factor authentication to its online customers. Westpac and Bendigo Bank have also implemented additional security measures for Web banking customers.