Capital One is offering its AirKey authentication tool to other financial institutions to combat rising fraud. 

Built in-house at Capital One seven years ago, AirKey is embedded into more than 75 million debit and credit cards and offers an added form of account authentication, Tom Poole, senior vice president, emerging payments, told Bank Automation News.  

With digital engagement up and capabilities of in-app and online banking expanding, tools like AirKey are important to protect client accounts from fraudsters, Poole said. On Oct. 9, the bank announced it would make AirKey available to other institutions to boost fraud prevention. 

For most banks, the more authentication options, the merrier, Poole said. Fraud professionals often say that while some authentication options are good, they “need more … more tools that will reach a broad set of customers.” 

Other familiar authentication tools include: 

• SMS one-time PIN; 

• Email authentication; and 

• Security questions, which have been proven to be too easy for fraudsters to guess. 

AirKey tech

So, how does AirKey work? 

AirKey turns debit and credit cards into hardware authenticators, Poole said. The AirKey applet is embedded into cards and linked to each client, verifying the user’s identity. 

This allows clients to access their bank accounts via mobile or digital interfaces with a “tap,” Poole said. 

Over the past seven years, Capital One has tested, iterated and improved the AirKey technology to communicate between card and phone seamlessly and, now, other financial institutions will be able to use the technology.  

Other FIs that use AirKey must issue cards that include the AirKey applet and they’ll enter a small amount of code into their app or website to enable the phone and card communication, Poole said. 

From there, banks can use code to match their brand with font and color customization, he said, noting AirKey is a “completely uniquely self-contained” solution and other FIs don’t have to worry about Capital One accessing their data or competitive insights. 

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