News and insight into biometric identification and authentication

Password or PIN not needed, just your voice

Monday, June 22, 2009

The National Australia Bank has deployed a voice recognition system from Telstra, an Australian telecommunications company, and Salmat VeCommerce, a supplier of voice self-service solutions. It will allow customers to access their accounts with nothing more than their voice, which will replace the need for a PIN or password.


Using voice biometric functionality, once callers have registered their unique voiceprint, they simply need to recite their individual account number to have their identity verified.

The solution, called VeSecure, is designed to improve the customer experience on NAB’s telephone banking and enhance security and privacy by removing the need for customers to remember their PINs and passwords.

This follows the deployment of VeConnect at the bank earlier this year to enhance the routing of telephone banking calls and the launch of a single telephone number to cover all of the bank’s customer enquiries.

Telstra spokesperson Rocky Scopelliti said the introduction of speech recognition and voice biometric technology at NAB has set an Australian benchmark for customer service in the banking industry. [end] 

VoiceVault, a developer of voice-based biometric solutions, has announced its voice biometric Smartphone Developer Program for VoiceVault Enterprise.

The program, which offers support for Android, iPhone and Blackberry operating systems, is designed to help smart phone application developers include voice-biometrics in their programs by providing tools and resources to assist the developers in utilizing the VoiceVault Enterprise technology.

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A webinar hosted by Angel.com, an interactive voice response (IVR) and call center solutions provider, and VoiceVault, a developer of voice recognition biometrics, drives at the need for voice biometrics in call center operations looking for unique alternatives to boost efficiency and lower costs, according to a TMCnet article.

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A new service based on cloud-computing and secured via voice recognition biometrics has been launched. The system enables retailers to set-up and run online businesses with secured financial transactions authenticated either via online or mobile phone, according to an Info Security article.

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ASSA ABLOY Future Labs’ Derek Scheips argues for voice recognition in physical access systems citing the technology’s appeal with users, according to a Source Security article. A Unisys-sponsored survey suggests voice recognition has the highest acceptance among biometric modes followed by fingerprints and hand geometry. From this, inferences are made pointing towards convenience and familiarity driving the consumer preferences.

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PhoneFactor Inc. continues to grow its financial services roster announcing additions to its most recent clientele: Heartland Financial USA, OceanFirst Bank, Northway Bank, and CUANY Credit Union. The PhoneFactor solutions have been utilized by financial institutions as a way to protect customers using e-banking from online fraud. Additionally the PhoneFactor technology can authenticate bank employees for remote logins.

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Elephant Talk Communications, a provider of software and services for the telecommunications and financial services industries, has announced the launch of new voice biometric offering called VALid-SVP.

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