Citi Trialing Fingerprint and Face Login for Business Clients

Select business clients of Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions will soon be able to access their CitiDirect BE accounts using fingerprint or facial recognition on their smartphones.

Offered in 95 countries, CitiDirect BE is aimed at enterprise clients, offering online access to investment, trade, and cash services. As such, the platform sees some big volumes, with clients performing sensitive transactions on a daily basis; hence the introduction of biometric authentication for the login process.

While the security of biometrics was certainly an important factor in this development, in a statement Citi emphasized the user experience, asserting that it developed the authentication system “in partnership with clients, resulting in an intuitive, user-friendly and secure way to access the service.” The bank noted that its current use of token-based security entails “a multi-step process” for logging in, whereas “biometric authentication allows clients access in just seconds.”

It’s not necessarily a huge leap forward for Citi’s security, given that the company first launched a Touch ID login system for its Hong Kong customers back in 2016; but the move does reflect the growing popularity of biometric authentication, and perhaps especially selfie authentication, among end users.

Citi says it is currently piloting CitiDirect BE’s authentication system “in certain markets”.

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December 17, 2018 – by Alex Perala