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Please-say-your-name-three-times: Biometric ID is for real

18.05.12

There should soon be no need to remember a password or recount your date of birth or cat's favourite colour when doing business with government agencies and banks over the phone.

Inland Revenue has joined Work and Income in allowing callers to have their voices recorded and recognised so they don't need to prove their identity through any other means the next time they call.

The agencies have stolen a march on the banks. Bank of New Zealand owner National Australia Bank is using biometric voice identification to check customers' identities in Australia but banks have yet to implement the time-saving technology in New Zealand.

Mike Banbrook, sales manager at technology company Salmat, said that would change. He was confident all banks would adopt voice biometrics instead of phone-banking passwords and security questions, but said the case was less compelling than for government agencies as banks dealt with lower volumes.

Inland Revenue began providing voice identification as an option four weeks ago and has so far enrolled 10,000 customers, contact centre manager Valerie Price said. It aims to increase that number to 800,000 within a year.

Source: Waikato Times