Customer authentication processes at banks have evolved from mere security questions and “date-of-birth” kind of passwords.

Biometrics and behavioral analytics are taking over banking apps for good, and U.S. Bank, recognizing that, has set a target: removing passwords “altogether” from the login process, and laying the groundwork for that in 2017, according to Jason Witty, the bank’s chief information security officer.

“We want to be innovative, frictionless and customer-centric. And so last year we added voice recognition, where your voice is your password, and fingerprint authentication that our customers were asking about,” he said at the Credit Suisse Financial Services Forum last week. This year will be all about facial recognition and pattern matching, Witty added.

It’s quite easy for us to say that there’s going to be this ridiculously complicated cryptographic certification thing that happens on the background, but all the customer will know is to push the red button. With that in mind, we are looking at enabling facial recognition. We’re looking at giving customers the control panel, saying ‘Hey, do you want to use the password, if you don’t, select one of these alternatives.’ For higher value transactions, we will require a stronger type of authentication, whether it’s facial, voice or fingerprint. We’ll allow customers to choose.

Cybersecurity concerns are at the core of U.S. Bank’s digital strategy, according to Witty. “Information security program is a revenue protection function, with an ambition to become revenue enhancing,” he said. “We are constantly looking to improve the intelligence and be more resilient.”

Witty said the bank is building a “future-proof” defense strategy against cybercrime which consists of three points:

• Protecting against threats (fraudsters and hackers) and managing through new breakthroughs (disruptive technologies and real-time payments)
• Offering machine-speed data, using external intelligence, and taking advantage of machine-learning, analytics and artificial intelligence
• Creating a holistic view of customers and fraud, while enabling real-time decisioning

Bye bye, passwords! You won’t be missed.

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