DigiMe, a solution meant to increase mobile banking security has now been launched by Standard Bank. The intention of which is to intensify access to mobile banking in order to shrug off intrusion and keep transactions safe for account owners.

In their words, Standard bank representatives made it known that the accelerated pace of tech improvement means there is need for a strong combination of authentication methods which is to identify real account owners.

“With the accelerating pace of technological change, there is a need for strong authentication by using a combination of two or more factors to authenticate the identity of a natural person,” said Standard Bank.

“DigiMe makes use of the latest biometric and facial recognition software, combined with multi-factor authentication to create a safe and secure banking experience on a mobile device.”

The DigiMe solution will now offer a much better user experience which Standard Bank claims will reduce the number of one-time PINS (OTP) and other verification methods used in favor of a much simpler yet safer and faster streamlined approach.

Keeping your identity safe

Upon setting up the DigiMe application on a device, it auto checks which authentication feature the device supports which includes fingerprint sensors or face recognition.

Afterwards, the user gets to chose either of the supported authentication which will be implemented and stored as the primary mode of verification on the DigiMe profile.

Andrew van der Hoven, Head of Digital Banking and eCommerce at Standard Bank, said Standard Bank has an agreement with SABRIC which allows it to connect this digital profile to the real person via the Home Affairs database.

This they called identity binding which makes it is much harder for fraudsters to create fake digital profiles.

Better facial recognition

Aside tthe Identity Binding, DigiMe also offer a much more better security authentication methods. According to Van Der Hoven, the solution offers a “world-class facial recognition” to validate the user.

This was reiterated by Standard Bank’s partner in the project, Iidentifii, which said DigiMe uses a superior facial recognition technology to those used by most other banks.

“A lot of the institutions at the moment use gesture-based liveness. This was a big topic at the World Economic Forum recently as it is very vulnerable to deep fakes,” said Iidentifii.

“Standard Bank is instead using a different, patented liveness technology that uses different lights which flash and reflect off your face.”

“To date no one has been able to spoof that,” said Iidentifii, adding that many hackers from around the world had been contracted to try to do so – and had been unsuccessful. But I wouldn’t bet so much on that.

“It is critical for Standard Bank to be one step ahead in the race to provide safe and secure digital banking. This means implementing systems and controls that keep up with the evolution of customer preferences and cyber risks,” said van der Hoven.

How do you activate DigiMe

The process is quite simple and straightforward enough. It works with your South African ID document or Passport also you must be willing to take a photo of yourself.

The process of verifying your digital profile is as follows:

• Step 1: Sign into your Standard Bank App and click on the “Profile” icon.
• Step 2: Click “Link and secure your profile”.
• Step 3: Click on the “Home” or “Work” button.
• Step 4: Capture your ID number.
• Step 5: Scan your ID document (ID Book, ID card, or Passport).
• Step 6: Take a selfie.

DigiME is available now on the Standard Bank App which can be downloaded from the Google Play store. If you already have the app on your device and the feature isn’t available you can update to the more recent version to see the implementation.