31 Oct St. George Adds Fingerprint Support For Mobile Banking

Biometric scanning is coming to internet banking. St. George have announced its customers will be able to use their fingerprint to login to its internet banking tool

“We have seen a 350% increase in the number of customers doing their banking on mobile devices since we launched our app in 2009… That’s why the launch of Touch ID for mobile banking is such an important advancement for mobile banking and for the industry more broadly,” says St. George CIO, Dhiren Kulkarni.

How Does Fingerprint Logon Work?

If you’re a first time user then you’ll be asked to:

• Logon with all three credentials (Customer Access Number/Card Number, Security Number and Password).
• Select ‘Remember Me’.
• Select Fingerprint as your method to logon (You will require a registered fingerprint on your device prior to setting up Fingerprint ID).
• Scan your fingerprint.
• You can then logon using Fingerprint.

Note: If you have someone else’s fingerprint stored on your device then you will not be able to use this feature.

Is Fingerprint Secure?

St. George says it has undertaken rigorous testing and other appropriate steps to protect customer information. St. George states that Fingerprint logon has the same high level security as all authentication methods currently used for online/mobile banking. However, the bank is also offering their customers a money-back security guarantee.

Kulkarni states “We’re confidence in the security, and with the best internet security team in Australia, we stand by our commitment to making mobile making safe while also simple and easy to use.”

For extra security purposes, a condition of use is that only one fingerprint is saved on the device.  If you grant Touch ID access on your Apple device to someone else then you will not be eligible to use the Fingerprint logon service.

What’s Next?

St. George is in the process of developing a similar technology for Samsung Galaxy S5 users which is expected to be available in the upcoming months.

St. George’s parent company, Westpac Banking Group, is expected to offer its customers the innovative mobile banking technology in the near future as well.

For more information visit the St. George Website.

 

What are your thoughts on using biometric scanning as a way to access internet banking? Let us know in the comments below.