Bank adopts biometric identification and verification system

anuary 22, 2013 - 

Bridge Community Bank has announced it is adopting the TASCET Financial ICONN privacy solution to streamline the banks online and physical customer identification and verification process.

Starting in 2013, account holders will be able to request a Financial ICONN at select bank locations in Iowa. According to the company, Bridge Community Bank is the first institution in the country to adopt this TASCET technology.

“Protecting our customers’ identities and assets is always our number one priority,” Bob Steen, CEO of Bridge Community Bank said. “TASCET’s Financial ICONN puts protection tools in place in the branch offices as well as in mobile transaction and peer-to-peer payments. The Financial ICONN approach eliminates many of the hurdles associated with identity. At the end of the day, both the consumer and the bank have the highest degree of confidence in knowing who is on each end of the transaction.”

An ICONN is a digital construct of an individual’s identity which includes demographic information and fingerprint and face biometrics.

To activate a Financial ICONN, users need to provide the bank with a name, address, date and country of birth and gender along with two Fingerproofs and a Faceproof. This information is then processed by TASCET’s Identity infrastructure to establish an identity. Once uniquely identified, the customer activates a Financial ICONN, a digital representation of their identity.

Fingerproofs and Faceproofs are what the company refers to its own proprietary digital representation of fingerprints and face biometrics.

When a person activates their ICONN, the business enrolling them receives a 16-digit identifier which links the individual to their financial account, medical record or student transcript. The 16-digit identifier is linked to the customer’s identity through their Faceproof and Fingerproof.

Bridge is not the first bank to introduce a biometric system to verify the identity of its customers and its likely many will adopt similar systems in the near future. The most recent Biometric Research Note suggests the implementation of biometric technology in the banking industry has the potential to cut operational risks by at least 20 percent over the next ten years.  BiometricUpdate