Bank of America to Trial Iris Login for Mobile Customers

Bank of America is exploring the idea of using the iris scanning capabilities of Samsung’s newer smartphones to authenticate its mobile banking customers, reports American Banker.

The plan is to have about 1,500 employees of Bank of America and Samsung test the iris authentication system in a six-week trial. The bank says that it’s exploring facial and voice recognition for user authentication, but evidently there is a strong focus on iris recognition after Samsung helped to pioneer the mobile technology with this year’s Galaxy S8 devices.

If the bank goes forward with the implementation of iris-based login, it could put it at the vanguard of a growing iris authentication trend. Samsung has indicated that it aims to use iris authentication for a whole ‘payment ecosystem’, and Mastercard has announced iris scanning support for its Identity Check security platform. So far, the UK’s TSB Bank appears to be the only bank in the world to have officially embraced the technology, so B of A could become the first in America to pioneer the technology.

On the other hand, Bank of America’s timeline for the technology beyond its six-week pilot is not yet clear, so there’s still time for other banks to take the lead in embracing iris authentication in the US.

Source: American Banker