Bank of Thailand Plans Trial of Biometric KYC Technology

Biometrics News

The Bank of Thailand (BoT) has announced that it is moving forward with a test of biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) technology. The test will involve ten separate organizations, including commercial banks and other non-bank financial institutions.

The test itself will not begin until some unspecified technical issues have been resolved, although Bank of Thailand Assistant Governor Siritida Panomwan said that the Bank still expects to complete the trial before the end of the fourth quarter.

“The BoT needs to roll out policies, regulations and criteria to ensure a smooth and problem-free operation before eKYC goes into effect,” said Panomwan. She went on to add that identity verification – particularly during account registration – will be one of the Bank’s primary areas of focus during the trial.

“During phase 1 we will use biometric technology to verify a customer’s identity when opening a savings account,” said Panomwan. “If the implementation is successful, banks and other financial institutions can adapt the technology to other aspects of their services without having to seek for BoT’s permission to enter the sandbox project again.”

Panomwan did not indicate what kind of biometric technology will be deployed during test. Other financial institutions have made use of a variety of different technologies, including face, voice, and behavioral biometrics.

The move is otherwise in keeping with Thailand’s recent enthusiasm for biometric technology. The country recently ordered biometric e-Passports from Thales and Gemalto, and has previously passed regulations that require mobile operators to enable biometric enrollment.

Source: FinExtra

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October 7, 2019 – by Eric Weiss