A major financial services provider in Japan is using Gemalto technology to enable biometric security on its mobile app: Thanks to the Mobile Protector solution, users of Dai Nippon Printing’s mobile app can log in using facial recognition technology.

In a statement announcing the move, Dai Nippon Printing Deputy General Manager Kunimitsu Sato explained that while mobile banking is on the rise in Japan, “users are also increasingly concerned about security.” Gemalto’s facial recognition system offers a fitting solution, he suggested, adding, “This should dramatically and significantly increase mobile banking usage.”

The development comes amid growing enthusiasm for mobile facial recognition in the wake of the launch of the iPhone X last autumn. Apple’s flagship phone uses a sophisticated form of the biometric technology to authenticate users when unlocking the phone, confirming Apple Pay payments, and in other applications.

It also arrives at a time of growing enthusiasm for biometric technology in Japan more broadly. Dai Nippon Printing is reportedly involved in a government-led project seeking to establish a biometric identification system for tourists to use when making payments and checking into hotels for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which is expected to revolve around fingerprint and possibly vein pattern recognition.

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(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)