Iris Recognition Systems to Ensure Secure Payments

Making online purchases or withdrawing money from an ATM in South Korea will be more secure in the future with the introduction of iris recognition systems. Irience, a start-up company that hopes to make eye-recognition security available in the country, has demonstrated the technology during a forum headed by Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearing Institute and the Bank of Korea.

The organizations looked into the possibility of biological ID systems to make financial transactions more secure, especially when using credit cards and giving crucial personal information.

Many companies have already integrated their security systems with iris recognition for the past years. Now, South Korea's finance industry has considered it a solution to identity theft. It will replace credit cards, even NFC chips in smartphones.

One of the companies interested in implementing the technology to their services is the Industrial Bank of Korea.

"We need to find a new authentication and verification system with strong security", an official says. "We are looking into adopting the iris recognition system to differentiate ourselves from other banks".

As of late, the bank's executives have already signed a deal with Irience. They're determining whether to start integrating the technology to their safety deposit boxes or to ATMs. They're also contemplating on creating products that use the system.

But the iris isn't the only unique body part. The face, fingerprint and voice have been used to identify an individual for decades. Some companies even integrate vein identification technology to their systems.

This is exactly what Korecen has introduced during the forum. Used for payment systems, it reads a person's vein patterns on the finger. Financial companies in other nations, such as Sumitomo Mitsui and Barclays, are already using vein recognition for internet banking and in ATMs.

Shinhan Bank is also interested in adopting it. According to an official, "We are looking into the technology as resistance to biometric recognition systems has been reduced, as fingerprint recognition systems are already used on smartphones".

If Korecen uses the finger's veins, Fujitsu Korea has come up with a system that recognizes a person through the veins on his palm. A few banks in Japan, such as Ogaki Kyoritsu and Mitsubishi UFJ, have integrated the technology to their automated teller machines.