FaceTec, gDi Provide Biometric Onboarding Solution for UAE’s Biggest Bank

“FaceTec offers us a valuable tool towards achieving this objective, with their solution allowing us to conduct liveness checks quickly and seamlessly without the customer needing to do anything other than look into the camera.” – Sunil Dixit, Head of Digital Banking, Consumer Banking Group, First Abu Dhabi Bank

The largest bank in the United Arab Emirates has turned to FaceTec‘s biometric solution for remote customer onboarding.

The project was undertaken via a partnership between FaceTec and Gulf Data International (“gDi”), a systems integrator that has been serving the Middle East and North Africa regions for almost four decades. FaceTec and gDi first announced their strategic partnership in September of last year.

The bank in question, meanwhile, is First Abu Dhabi Bank, (or “FAB”), a major institution that operates across five continents and was ranked the UAE’s top bank by Forbes and The Banker in 2020. The bank sought to enhance onboarding on its Payit digital platform, particularly with respect to security; and in a statement announcing the integration, FAB Consumer Banking Group Head of Digital Banking Sunil Dixit praised FaceTec’s solution as an important aid in FAB’s efforts to deliver a more convenient and smarter customer experience.

“FaceTec offers us a valuable tool towards achieving this objective, with their solution allowing us to conduct liveness checks quickly and seamlessly without the customer needing to do anything other than look into the camera,” he said. “Their 3D matching capability is unique and is widely adopted by leading companies worldwide, with local support through their channel partners.”

Adding to the praise, gDi CCO Omar Atta highlighted FaceTec’s cooperation in the project, asserting that the biometrics specialist helped gDi to “tailor the product to the specific requirements of the UAE market.”

“The rollout was well prepared beforehand so that we were able to execute it entirely without delay,” Atta added.

As for the solution itself, it asks end users to submit a two-second selfie video. FaceTec’s biometric technology uses the video to establish a 3D FaceMap, which is then compared to the end user’s photo ID in order to verify their identity. The 3D FaceMap is subsequently used to enable instant account access in future authentication sessions.

It’s an approach to authentication that is proving increasingly popular amid various organizations’ accelerated digital transformations, a trend that has helped to drive massive revenue growth for FaceTec in recent months.

For FaceTec’s part, CEO Kevin Alan Tussy called the effort “an important and forward-thinking project in the UAE” and praised the company’s partners. “Working with such talented, smart people resulted in a seamless rollout of critical biometric cyber-security technology that will provide a foundation for the ambitious and progressive programs at FAB, and setting an example for the rest of the world,” he added.

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January 11, 2022 – by Alex Perala