Financial Institutions in Thailand Embraced Biometric Technology
In 2019, the central bank of Thailand realized the importance of identifying verification and announced it was going to integrate biometric technology into the country’s financial institutions, which are often very prone to unethical activities since they directly deal with money. Biometric can be a countermeasure to make the industry secure and help it expand.
The Bangkok Post reports that Thailand’s central bank has announced that biometrics will be used by the country’s financial institutions to verify account openings, in compliance with electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC).
This step was necessary for the country to expand its industry as it was experiencing growth in the fintech industry and, in order to keep the growth rate steady, needed to adjust in the operating environment.
Biometric authentication is better than passwords
Passwords will soon become a thing of the past. The concept of passwords was good before. Compared to technological advancement, passwords were a good form of granting access to a website. However, today’s passwords are not as strong as their alternatives and can easily be hacked or tracked by malicious software.
Biometrics, on the other hand, is considered the safest form of restricting unauthorized access. Such data are unique for each person. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to hack it. To quote Naphongthawat Phothikit, the director of the financial technology department at the Bank of Thailand, “You can change your password; you can’t change your face.”
Thailand is going for facial recognition technology
Although there are other modes of biometric authentication, Thailand is going for facial recognition technology. The reason they choose this mode may be for convenience, considering the National Digital Identity (NDID) project. This is another government project that will provide every citizen with an electronic chip card that holds all their information.
Collecting authentication data is the first step of identity verification. With the NDID project, the government is completing the first step. Later, this data can be used by the financial institution to verify one’s identity.
Initially, the technology was used to identify and verify customers who opened a deposit account at one of the bank’s branches by matching the cardholder’s face to the photo on the citizen ID card they presented during their visit to the branch. The technology then advanced to authenticating the customer’s identity by comparing the selfie to the photograph on their NDID through a mobile app.
The growth of financial institutions in Thailand
Thailand’s government recently waived mobile bank transaction fees, and Siritida reported that the average number of mobile transactions per user has nearly doubled to 100 per year. The PromptPay national e-payment platform is now used by 48 million people and 4.9 million businesses, up from just over 3 million at the end of 2018.
With that being said, many neobanks or mobile-only banks have grown in Thailand due to fast and secure transactions. Biometric technology has opened a new door in the financial services of Thailand. The adoption of mobile digital technology with biometric access verification in financial services has increased security, consumer confidence, and financial inclusion.
Biometric technology is the future of digital security
M2SYS, a globally recognized biometric company, provides the solution for such cases. With technological advancements comes a higher level of threats. People nowadays are relying on multiple online services, and the financial industry is no exception. To inflate security biometric technology is the safest option. The M2SYS team collaborates with customers to get a deep understanding of the project and execute it to perfection.
