Affinity Credit Union Uses Voice Biometrics to Support Remote Operations

The Affinity Federal Credit Union has revealed that it is using Voice ID to provide better service to its customers. The New Jersey financial institution is operating on an appointment-only basis during the pandemic, and is currently pursuing an aggressive digital transformation to meet the growing demand for convenient digital banking options.

In that regard, Voice ID utilizes voice recognition to verify the identities of customers that call Affinity. The technology is intended to strengthen security with biometric authentication practices, and to speed up processing times for customers and employees alike.

The Voice ID system has been paired with an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solution that lets customers navigate self-service options with voice commands. Affinity also has a Virtual Assistant (dubbed Wes) that can field customer inquiries outside of business hours.

“We’re investing in continuous innovation to expand and enhance our digital and self-service banking technologies to make day-to-day transactions easier and more convenient,” said Affinity CEO John Fenton. “The pandemic accelerated our long-term plan to become a more digital credit union. We are transforming our service model accordingly.”

Affinity was an early adopter of mPayment technology, introducing support for platforms like Samsung Pay and Android Pay all the way back in February of 2016. However, it is not the first credit union to use voice biometrics to secure its call center operations. The VyStar Credit Union deployed Verint’s voice identification system in May of 2019, while the Credit Union Service Organization CU*Answers offers voice recognition in its multimodal MACO solution.

Affinity plans to introduce more mobile and self-service banking features in the months ahead. Its actions are part of a broader digital transformation trend, with more and more Credit Unions offering biometric authentication options to their customers. The Central Minnesota Credit Union recently installed biometric ATMs, while the Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union has now been using palm vein biometrics for more than a year.

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October 30, 2020 – by Eric Weiss