Facial Recognition Technology Spreads Across Korean Financial Sector
Attempts to introduce facial recognition technology into mobile banking are gradually spreading, amid the competition that is taking place between Korean financial institutions that look for meeting the user’s demand for more convenient financial services.
A number of Korean banks introduced (or plan to) facial recognition technology in their services.
A major bank H. has already introduced the facial recognition to its mobile banking service. The bank is providing a face authentication service to its app as one of several authentication methods such as joint certificate, financial certificate, and fingerprint recognition. Here, the financial institution applied face authentication not only for the log in process but also for the financial transaction step, which has been considered as a big move in the industry.
Another leading bank W. has recently decided to introduce the facial recognition function to its identification service for facilitating student ID card’s issuance. In this regard, W. is implementing a face authentication function to help compare photos registered on resident registration card and driver’s license with the student in person during the non-face-to-face issuance process of the student ID card. Currently, W. provides a mobile banking service with a login and cash transfer function leveraging face authentication based on financial certificates.
Among the other banks that started applying facial recognition functions to online and offline services, the bank I. is developing related services so that its customers who visit branches can confirm their identity and conduct financial transactions with the facial recognition function installed on the branches’ tablet PCs, allowing customers to come at the bank without bringing ID cards.
The bank S. is also preparing to apply facial recognition technology to some of its branches’ counters by Q3 2021 with the aim of enabling its customers to get identified by only using their face. The financial institution recently introduced a ATM kiosk that can autonomously issue bankbooks and check cards through biometric authentication. Currently, only vein authentication is available, but facial recognition is under development. (cf. image below)
A subsidiary of this bank has already been implementing facial recognition enabling its user to proceed to contactless payment. After being designated as an innovative financial service by the financial regulator in 2019, a university applied it for access and payment purposes. The service will be expanded to large distribution stores, which should contribute to the generalization of the use of facial recognition technology in the Korean society. The financial institution has recently upgraded the service so that users can confirm their identity even while wearing a mask.
Another financial institution K. has been providing face recognition services since 2019 as one of the biometric authentication methods that can be used for payment. It is supporting the use of biometric authentication even in older smartphone models, such as those that do not have a fingerprint recognition function.
Eventually, a bank based in Busan will also start a non-face-to-face real-name verification service using facial recognition technology in October, with the aim of easing identification process for it customers by eliminating the real-name verification certificate’s copy submission/video call performance steps when conducting non-face-to-face financial transactions. The regulator has recently allowed users to leverage a method of comparing real-name identification certificate photos and selfie taken by customers with the facial recognition technology.
Additional banks can be quoted here reflecting the appetite of Korean financial institutions for the face authentication technology; a technology with a market that should keep growing in Korea.
Source: https://www.etnews.com/20210716000087
Our View: Korean banks are intensively enhancing convenience of their services by integrating contactless authentication means such as facial recognition, in order to overcome business restrictions caused by COVID-19. According to the INNOPOLIS Foundation, the global facial recognition market for the banking, financial services and insurance industries is expected to reach $ 1.93 million by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 19.9% from $ 0.78 million in 2020. Facial recognition is emerging as a next-generation biometric technology following fingerprint recognition due to its high convenience. Anyone with a camera integrated to his/her phone can leverage the technology to get verified. Some experts pointed out that the recognition rate may be lowered due to internal and external changes such as head shape, facial expression, lighting, etc. That said, the facial recognition technology is getting more accurate, in particular thanks to the use of AI, which boosts its introduction in banking sector, where service’s reliability is critical.
