South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank (KB Bank) is turning to Trustonic to safeguard its mobile banking app. The integration of Trustonic Application Protection (TAP) will make the KB Star Banking App easier to use, and will also raise the transaction limits for KB customers.

To generate those benefits, Trustonic TAP will change the way the app handles authentication certificates. Korean mobile banking customers currently need to install authentication certificates in order to take advantage of mobile banking services. However, those certificates often needed to be renewed under KB Bank’s prior setup. That process could be time-consuming and inconvenient, especially since it relied heavily on passwords. 

To solve that problem, Trustonic TAP will isolate the app’s authentication certificates in the hardware security component of the user’s smartphone. Doing so will negate the need to renew the certificates, unless the user specifically revokes the certificate, or the certificate goes unused for a full year.

“Korea’s certificate-based authentication infrastructure has historically limited the user experience for mobile banking apps,” explained Trustonic CEO Dion Price. “By making its banking app more seamless and secure with Trustonic’s combination of hardware and software protection, KB Bank has vastly improved the user experience.”

The KB Star Banking App debuted in the summer of 2019, and already has 3 million active users. With Trustonic TAP, those customers will be able to use the app to approve a transaction worth 2 million won (roughly $1,700 USD) with only their account password, and up to 50 million won ($41,000 USD) with a password and six-digit PIN. Larger transactions (up to 500 million won/$413,000 USD) can be cleared with a password, a PIN, and an authentication code sent through an automated phone call.

Trustonic previously provided TAP protection for the Korean authentication specialist Ksmartech, and partnered with Lookout to extend the reach of the TAP platform. The company’s Trusted Execution Environment recently received EMVCo certification.