Mobile Biometrics in Financial Services: A Five Factor Framework

Banks and the wider financial services sector are witnessing sharp increases in the number of users interacting with them through digital channels. In light of these changes, traditional password-based mechanisms are becoming insecure, inconvenient, or both, as evidenced by the rise of digital fraud rates and users who report frustration with authenticating to financial services. Biometrics are an alternative that offer potential usability improvements, while retaining or improving the security guarantees. This paper is motivated by the need for a demystification of the deployment of a biometric system for financial services use cases. This paper is based on two separate studies: (1) a longitudinal study of users’ attitudes towards the adoption of biometric authentication for online payment use cases; and (2) an opinion survey of a targeted group of financial services professionals. The findings of these studies are two-fold. The user study shows that users (>90%) believe biometrics are more secure and convenient than passwords, and that they are willing to adopt biometrics to replace existing password-based authentication. Nonetheless, the industry survey highlights gaps in experience and importance on different aspects of deploying biometric systems: only 36% of respondents are familiar with biometrics, compared to 88% of them that would be involved in their deployment. These gaps inhibit adoption of biometrics, as they prevent effective communication and collaboration among different entities involved in the process of deployment. In this paper, we use the insights gathered in the studies to identify five key factors that contribute to the success of a biometric system in financial services. For each factor, we outline and discuss the main challenges and trends that need to be analysed before deployment, combining perspectives from academia, industry groups, and regulators. The Five Factor Framework provides a broad range of guidelines and necessary considerations for the deployment of mobile biometrics in financial services.