Biometrics Offers MENA Customers Frictionless, Secure Online Authentication

Along with the pressure to speed up digital transformation at the onset of the pandemic, businesses around the world soon realized that the acceleration would need to be accompanied by security-reinforced identity verification and user authentication to fight growing online fraud, while offering users a simple and secure customer journey.

In fact, according to Hamza Al-Ghatam, the slow turnaround of manual verification techniques is no longer good enough to deliver the seamless and secure user experience customers are demanding on digital platforms, particularly during the remote onboarding process.

“Customer experience is very important because you can’t convince people to come and use your services when it’s very complicated, [difficult] to onboard or activate the service,” Al-Ghatam, who is the CEO at Bahrain-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup FACEKI, told PYMNTS in an interview.

This is the reason why FACEKI is leveraging AI and machine learning-powered biometric authentication technology to enhance identity verification during the onboarding process and offer consumers a seamless, more secure digital experience.

To make the FACEKI solution even more effective in the Middle Eastern region where it currently operates, Al-Ghatam said that they’ve adapted their facial recognition technology to take into account cultural variations, such as the headscarves and head coverings commonly worn by locals, when authenticating users.

What’s more, due to the difficulties in translating instructions into multiple languages, he noted that they’ve implemented “passive” liveness checks during which specific commands such as “come closer, smile, turn your head” have been removed. As such, a simple look into the camera is enough to capture a person’s image and accurately verify a user.

Learn more: Companies Lean on Biometrics, Machine Learning to Stay ‘One Step Ahead’ of Fraudsters

He added that the image background, the angle the camera is held at and details at the edge of the frame are all elements that can be incorporated into the identity verification process without asking for any extra input from users or adding friction to the process.

This, he explained, aligns with FACEKI’s approach to simplicity, both in delivering a seamless user experience and in fighting digital fraud: “[We want to] make it as simple as taking a selfie [without] lots of tricky things or [action items]. We want it to be a truly frictionless service for our customers.”

Social Media, Crypto Firms Embrace Biometrics

Although the financial services sector has been spearheading the race to embrace biometric technologies, the company is starting to see increasing demand from social media platforms which have had a higher-risk exposure to user identity theft in recent years.

“Bit by bit, these platforms [are] starting to [become] aware that it’s their responsibility to protect their users,” Al-Ghatam noted, referring to the sensitive user data that they have in their possession.

Cryptocurrency service providers are another group of businesses showing growing interest in biometric authentication, viewing it as a better alternative to PINs and one-time passwords.

Related: Data Point: 68% of Consumers Want to Keep Passwords Off Their Apps

“We see more and more crypto providers starting to [come our] way,” he said, pointing to a heightened understanding that “biometrics [is currently] the most secure option” for protecting user’s accounts.

And it doesn’t end there. According to Al-Ghatam, other sectors, industries and platforms also have much to gain from the innovation.

For example, the recent launch of a global digital vault — ‘tejouri’ — by the Dubai International Finance Center Courts is a prime example of this, and a reflection of how the MENA region is unlocking new use cases for biometric technology.

Using a distributed ledger, the vault offers a secure storage solution for sensitive files such as wills, title deeds and insurance contracts, and allows the encrypted transfer of files between authorized individuals at a specific time via biometric facial recognition.

“We are not used to seeing technology provided by courts. Normally, they just [stick] to the basics. So, for courts to start innovating and providing [tech] solutions show how the region [is moving beyond] just the basic, standard requirements,” Al-Ghatam said.

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