HSBC is letting customers use their fingerprints to sign into their bank accounts
The bank is introducing biometric tests for its customers, it announced on Friday - letting users access online banking using their fingerprints or their voice.
With the former, the scheme is compatible with Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner. Customers will be able to scan their fingerprint to prove who they are to log in, the BBC reports.
Alternatively, customers can use their voice to access their accounts. They record a "voice print" by which the bank learns how they speak, then they read out a phrase to their phones to gain entry. "
"This gets rid of the much-maligned passwords to replace them with something more secure - you don't have to remember where you lived when you were five, or your inside leg measurement," said the bank's head of customer contact, Joe Gordon (via The Telegraph.) "It takes more than 100 different measurements, so for most people even with a cold, the vocal tract doesn't change, and behavioural factors such as the speed of speech, their accent and pronunciation are still there."
He added: "In those cases where we still cannot, which are few and far between, they can be put through to an adviser to go through verification in the normal way."
15 million customers will be able to use the new features, which will roll out widely this summer.
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