Russia’s beta biometrics brings better banking security
Tinkoff Bank, VTB Bank and Pochta Bank, together with telephony provider Rostelecom, have presented a beta version of their unified biometrics system (UBS), a digital platform developed at the request of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media and the Bank of Russia.
The beta version features all the key components to deliver basic human identification functionality and is ready to be integrated into the banks’ information systems. The risks of this are “minute and it will be a breakthrough in the digitalisation of banking security”.
The UBS combines types of recognition based on a photographic image to provide “remarkably precise” identification of a living individual. For each identification parameter, the system uses biometric solutions from several vendors, including voice, iris and fingerprint recognition.
Vladimir Verkhoshinsky, a member of VTB Bank Management Board, says: “At the moment, digital channels account for up to 40% of our sales. It will open up new vistas in serving our clients, with most of the banking products like deposits, savings accounts, loans, bank cards, payments and transfers available remotely, without visiting the office.”
Its security mechanisms will deny authentication if the match score against the reference biometric data stored in the UBS is too low. The digital platform will utilise Rostelecom’s cloud infrastructure accessible by the banks via communication channels of the Interagency Electronic Interaction System.
The commercial launch of the UBS is slated for 1 July 2018.
“Going forward, the UBS will help simplify interactions and digitise quite a number of processes, such as rendering public, social, and national transportation security services. It will even make voting and remote census possible,” says Mikhail Bondarenko, CEO of RT Labs.
RT Labs, a subsidiary of Rostelecom, is the project’s technology partner. The firm has a track record in electronic government systems, and it will engage in developing IT elements to consolidate, process, store, and provide personal biometric data to the system, and integrating it with the e-government’s infrastructure.
By Heidi Napper – guest journalist.
