HSBC to offer voice and fingerprint recognition

Customers using the mobile app and telephone banking will be given the opportunity to access their accounts with a voice and fingertip verification system, as HSBC embraces biometric banking.

HSBC said the service, which will be offered to up to 15m customers including First Direct, was the largest planned rollout of voice biometric security technology in the UK.

The bank’s UK head of retail banking and wealth management, Francesca McDonagh, said: “The launch of voice and touch ID makes it even quicker and easier for customers to access their bank account, using the most secure form of password technology - the body."

HSBC’s Joe Gordon told the BBC’s Today Programme that even coughs and colds won’t get in the way of the voice recognition system: “We will be able to cope with people who have got colds or slight impediments. Things such as the size of your mouth or your vocal tract don’t change. Neither do your cadence or your accent when you’ve got those little colds.”

The voice biometrics technology, which is being supplied by Nuance Communications Inc, works by cross-checking against over 100 unique identifiers including behavioural features such as speed, cadence and pronunciation. It also checks for physical aspects such as the shape of larynx, vocal tract and nasal passages.

The announcement comes as research from YouGov showed 37% of consumers reckon traditional passwords have become an outdated security measure, with 55% of respondents admitting they rarely changed their paswords.

Barclays currently offers voice recognition, but only to select clients.