Voice biometrics gains momentum in call centres

The banking and retail sector is placing its bets in the technology to improve remote security and customer service

Voice biometrics can be used as a tool to reduce CNP fraud

The uptake of biometric solutions could be boosted as companies from the financial and retail sectors are looking for alternatives to protect against the risk associated with card not present (CNP) transactions.

In the week that stockbroker Merchant Securities was penalised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) – the firm was found to be using methods such as extensive client conversations because it didn’t have appropriate systems to identify them over the phone – Experian has launched a hosted biometric identity verification service using Voicevault technology.

It is understood that the credit rating agency is in talks with a number of large banking institutions and high-street retailers interested in subscribing to the service to validate contact centre callers.

Customers are invited to register with the system, usually by speaking a phrase or account number. The voice print is then held on Experian’s databases and used to match against a caller’s voice when they use the contact centre again.

Services offered by third parties based on voice biometrics are a welcome offering that makes sense for banking institutions, said a spokeswoman at payments association Apacs.

"News of this new commercial offering comes as no surprise to us at industry level,” she said.

“Several of our member banks have been telling us that plans were afoot to introduce voice biometrics at their call centres, and it's understandable that some may choose to buy it off of an external supplier rather than developing a bespoke system. We will be watching from the sidelines with interest."

The most recent figure on CNP fraud from 2007 shows a 37 per cent increase for that type of hoax on the year before, totalling £290.5m in losses.