Reports on Growing Use of Biometrics in Asian Banks.Lack of Standardization May Prevent Large-Scale Customer Deployment

IDC: Examining the growing use and effectiveness of automated biometric authentication devices by banks in Asia.

Generally viewed as an expensive, high-level security application, biometrics has become more accessible for commercial purposes through technological advances. Estimates by the International Biometric Group see biometric usage growing significantly over the coming years. However, despite increasing usage by Asian banks for internal security, It will still be several years before automated biometric authentication devices can be effectively deployed on a customer level.

Figure 1

A It is not really an issue of whether banks are ready for biometrics but an issue of whether biometrics is ready for banks. Numerous banks in Asia have already implemented biometrics for internal security purposes, but problems arises when they try and implement customer-level biometric authentication.

Despite being touted as the highest level of security, biometric devices are too diverse with a variety of proprietary elements that make it difficult for them to be interoperable and customer-friendly in the modern banking environment. The lack of standardization between devices, little regulatory guidance, and cost concerns show that the practical implementation of biometric authentication on a customer level is still several years away.

Biometrics: Ready for Asia's Banks? Publ 20060621