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Over the past few years, retail banking and consumer finance organizations have begun to embrace the concept of digital identity. Financial institutions, spurred by innovations in the identity experience space, are looking to replace traditional credential-based consumer authentication with a passwordless alternative.
New authentication standards like WebAuthn and FIDO2 greatly strengthen the safety of consumer interactions. When financial institutions adopt these standards, they dramatically improve the user experience and increase customer trust.
The consumer finance sector is still working on bringing about these changes, and deployment is not without its share of challenges. Passwords are ubiquitous for retail banking customers, and the adoption of newer, stronger consumer authentication standards might seem a long way off. With the introduction of PSD2 and SCA in the European Union, strong authentication standards are not just preferable — they’re a regulatory requirement. However, even outside the EU, early adopters are already reaping the benefits of a futureproof identity experience.
Let’s dive into what the consumer finance industry’s current authentication looks like, what you can expect in the future and how you can leverage Transmit Security’s passwordless solution for success in your own organization.
The industry clearly recognizes the problem with the status quo. Everyone understands the challenge of usernames, passwords and knowledge-based questions from personal experience. Users either forget the details and have to complete a frustrating reset process, or they suffer the security challenges related to a breach of credentials.
The multi-factor authentication (MFA) process deployed throughout the retail finance sector addresses the credential breach problem but often at the expense of user experience and at a significant cost. That’s where biometrics and strong authentication standards come into play.
Instead of relying on an authentication app or SMS message for verification, passwordless authentication provides ironclad protection within a frictionless user experience. With strong authentication standards backed by biometrics, a passwordless alternative is finally a reality. Traditional MFA is soon to be a thing of the past.
Given the broad adoption of the WebAuthn and FIDO2 standards at a device level, there is total certainty that usernames and passwords will soon be replaced. The only question is when YOUR OWN company will adopt a passwordless alternative and what challenges YOU will face.
When moving to a passwordless consumer identity experience, the biggest hurdle is the number of devices and channels of communication with the customer. Each device the customer owns and uses will have its own FIDO authenticator which could be called upon by a web browser interaction or via a native mobile application.
Registering and managing these credentials, especially as more and more services begin using FIDO, will quickly become a headache for users and deliver a negative customer experience. To deliver an optimal identity experience, we need to provide them with the portability of using FIDO from any of their devices in any web, mobile, web chat or contact center interaction. For maximum deployment speed, it is equally important that there is no need to deploy or update software on any of the customers’ devices.
Transmit Security is focused on helping organizations quickly achieve a passwordless, highly consumable identity experience across all of the customers’ devices.
As the first truly app-less alternative to passwords, Transmit Security enables a frictionless identity experience without the need for complex registration processes and with minimal changes at the web and application levels. Essentially, Transmit Security works in conjunction with your chosen identity provider to affect an exceptional user experience.
Transmit Security provides consumer authentication and transaction signing using native FIDO2 strong authentication credentials across all devices and all channels, including web, mobile and web chat. Transmit Security also supports non-digital channels, such as service centers, customer call centers and kiosks.
The primary benefits are operational cost reduction through the removal of OTP generators and increased revenue from preventing customer churn. On the user side, safely stored FIDO credentials make logins a breeze and allow authentication to become background noise. The seamless user experience drives customer loyalty and removes the burden of needing to remember passwords.
The most compelling aspect is the fact that it takes only days to integrate it into all your interaction channels. With ultra-fast implementation thanks to OIDC standards, production can begin within weeks and with as little as one developer.
Compare this to the more typical identity management transformation programs which can take months and sometimes years. For financial organizations looking to quickly deploy a passwordless, strong biometric solution for their customers, now is the perfect time to explore Transmit Security.
