Daegu Bank Partnership Brings FacePhi Into Korea’s ‘Regulatory Sandbox’

“Participating in a regulatory sandbox is a good opportunity for biometric technology and legislation to progress hand in hand, opening new opportunities for companies and reinforcing the security with which citizens receive these innovations.” – Javier Mira, CEO, FacePhi

Spain-based biometric authentication specialist FacePhi has established further inroads into the APAC market through a new partnership with Korea’s Daegu Bank.

The latter will deploy FacePhi’s selfie-based authentication technology in two phases. First, it will enable digital onboarding via the SelphID solution, allowing end customers to open a bank account by submitting a selfie along with photos of an official identity document. FacePhi’s facial recognition technology will confirm customers’ identities by matching their faces in those images.

The next phase will see Daegu enable biometric login on its IMBANK mobile app. That could open the door to further biometric authentication options later on, with end users performing actions such as bank transfers using biometric authorization.

In announcing the partnership, FacePhi said that it is being undertaken under the supervision of Korean banking authorities under the auspices of a broader financial services innovation program. The Daegu Bank pilots will be part of a regulatory sandbox platform, and could lead to further market opportunities down the line.

“Participating in a regulatory sandbox is a good opportunity for biometric technology and legislation to progress hand in hand, opening new opportunities for companies and reinforcing the security with which citizens receive these innovations,” explained FacePhi CEO Javier Mira.

Having established a strong presence in the Spanish and LATAM financial services sectors, FacePhi has in recent years sought to expand into new markets on a global scale, opening a subsidiary headquarters in South Korea in 2019. The company has now established multiple partnerships in the country, and is poised to accelerate its international expansion thanks to recently-secured financing.

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January 18, 2020 – by Alex Perala