Commonwealth Bank launches facial recognition login for iPhone X
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has announced the availability of iPhone X facial recognition on its CommBank app, allowing customers to log on to internet banking using Apple's Face ID function.
CBA is the first Australian bank to offer the service.
"Our customers use secure fingerprint logins on the CommBank app about 30 million times a month," CBA executive GM of Digital Pete Steel said in a statement on Friday. "Extending that functionality to Face ID is part of our ongoing work to provide a better banking experience to our customers through simple, easy, and secure features."
The bank touted Face ID as a secure way to log in to an account.
"While we strive towards convenience and ease of use, we don't implement new technology without being able to guarantee security for customers," Steel said.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) launched its own biometric capability in September, making Voice ID available through its Grow by ANZ banking app.
The bank's customers can make "Pay Anyone" payments of more than AU$1,000 automatically, bypassing usual security measures such as visiting a branch in person. Voice ID can also be used to make BPAY payments of over AU$10,000.
"This is a significant security update that will make it easier for our customers to complete high-value transactions on their smartphones," ANZ managing director of customer experience and digital channels Peter Dalton said previously.
"Customers increasingly want the convenience of banking on their digital devices, and this solution delivers that with the added level of voice biometric security."
While initially only available on ANZ's Grow app, the bank intends to roll the technology out to its other digital channels, with the bank revealing soon after it is looking to implement voice biometrics as the method of authentication in its call centres across all of its front doors.
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