At USAA, Banking App Taps Facial Recognition Feature

The capability comes at a time when consumer concerns about financial security have spiked and data breaches are increasingly common.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • linkText
  • Email
(Tribune News Service) -- Ditch the user name and password — Florida residents can now gain access to personal mobile banking with a selfie, as long as they're a USAA member.

The bank is the first large American financial institution to offer facial recognition as an option for accessing its mobile app, which lets users check their balance, make deposits, view statements and reach customer service representatives. The capability comes at a time when consumer concerns about financial security have spiked and data breaches are increasingly common.

The feature rolled out in Florida in December, and about 110,000 of USAA's 4.1 million national members are using it.

"It's very simple," said Gary McAlum, USAA's chief security officer.

When the feature is activated, a camera screen appears after selecting a menu item, he said. In about two seconds, the camera registers the user's face, waits for a blink and unlocks the app.

"We made sure (the blink) was in there so you couldn't just hold up a picture," McAlum said.

Selfie shy? The app can also recognize and match voices, which takes about five seconds.

"It's certainly much faster than trying to type in a user ID and a password," McAlum said, which he called "obsolete."

McAlum said USAA is looking into utilizing phone fingerprint capabilities to access the app, too — a feature Wells Fargo is also looking into.

Wells Fargo currently lets users authorize wire transfers with voice recognition via mobile apps, but does not allow users to sign in with speech like USAA, said Michelle Palomino, Wells Fargo's Tampa Bay spokeswoman.

Bank of America's regional contact chose not to comment.

McAlum said USAA took about two years to develop the software, which international biometrics company Daon created. Daon's CEO, Thomas Grissen, said the facial and voice recognition capabilities are not only secure, they're easy.

"I don't have to remember anything in either scenario," he said.

Though the feature is new to mobile banking, Grissen said biometrics has been around for a while.

"These algorithms are the same ones we use around the world to protect nations' borders and infrastructure," he said. "What we did was take the power of this technology back to the consumer."

The USAA facial recognition feature rolled out for all users in January, around the time its app won best overall in mobile banking from Javelin, a financial strategy and research company.

Grissen predicts more banks and companies will use biometrics for authentication.

"We see 2015 as a real tipping point where the consumer will be able to turn to this technology due to its security and convenience," he said.

Convenience is perhaps the main reason users seem to like the feature, said Adam Sheffield, cybersecurity program manager with the Florida Center for Cybersecurity at the University of South Florida.

"The big thing to look at is the balance between ease of use and security," Sheffield said.

©2015 the Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC


  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • linkText
  • Email