It becomes the first financial institution to install this system
It shall ensure the security to more than 250.000 clients in the financial institution
Madrid, 17th October 2014.- FacePhi, experts in facial recognition technology, has reached an agreement with Grupo Mutual to install its facial recognition system in the mobile banking service of the financial institution of Costa Rica, as it informed to the Spanish Alternative Investment Market (MAB) today.
The operation, which will be closed before ending 2014 after being approved for the Board of Management of both companies, makes Grupo Mutual the first company and financial institution that uses a facial biometrics system to ensure the security of its clients when they access to their private account through the online banking.
After the signature of the agreement, there will be a period of time (a little bit more than a month) for Grupo Mutual to carry out tests with employees and clients, so the system will be fully operative in January with more than 250.000 active clients. Moreover, even though the authentication service of facial recognition will be initially applied in mobile banking, in a second phase it will be extended to all the possibles scenarios at the institution.
For FacePhi, this agreement means a boost in its expansion plan in Latam in accordance with the guidelines of the business plan, in addition of being the point of entry in the financial sector. At the same time, the biometrics company keeps negotiations with the banking association in Peru, Asbanc-which is composed by 15 different banks- and with other regional institutions.
One of the seven most important financial institutions
With more than 780 million of euros in assets, Grupo Mutual is one of the seven most important financial institutions of Costa Rica and currently it counts with 54 offices in seven regions, being the only one and the biggest mutual company of the Central American country – it is dedicated to housing, consumer banking and S.M.E.s.-, with 67 million of euros in incomes and a net benefit of 4,8 million of euros in 2013.
As the technological manager of Grupo Mutual said, Juan Carlos Miranda, “facial recognition technology is the most single way to ensure the passwords and access of the clients and it lets us to avoid the banking fraud by phishing, which is one of our biggest concerns”.
This concern is also shared by the rest of the institutions in the financial sector of Latam, as there is a 99,8% of banking fraud by phishing in the region, creating annual losses around 40 million of euros.
Facephi Biometrics is a public company listed on the MAB (Spanish Alternative Investment Market), specialized in developing and marketing facial recognition software and is one of the most relevant manufacturers in the world, working for banking, vehicle, private security and public sectors. FacePhi focuses its activity on mobile devices, reducing fraud in accounts. It has direct presence in 18 different countries, among which we found Latam strategic markets such as Panama, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. Its facial recognition software uses own algorithms, which makes it the original owner of the technology.
For more information: www.facephi.com
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