Standard Chartered Bank, an international bank focusing on the Africa, Asia, and Middle East markets, has enabled Touch ID login for its mobile app in eight African countries.
As of last week, Stanchart customers in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are able to use the mobile biometric authentication system. The move brings Touch ID login to about a million clients.
Announcing the launch of Touch ID support, Stanchart executive Karen Fawcett framed the move in terms of customer service, asserting that “consumers across the continent are increasingly affluent and tech-savvy and they want convenient access to their bank, wherever they happen to be.” But the bank’s embrace of biometric authentication may also reflect a serious concern for security, given that its new mobile app enables a range of sensitive transactions including fund transfers.
Then again, the mobile app is also available for Android, and it isn’t clear that fingerprint authentication is enabled for devices on that platform—Stanchart’s ‘touch login service’ is currently only promoted with respect to Touch ID. At the very least, bank customers using iPhones will have more convenient and secure access to their mobile accounts.
Source: AllAfrica
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July 6, 2016 – by Alex Perala
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