Marking the first time a bank has implemented the technology, ABN Amro has implemented new voice recognition technology in an effort to combat fraud occurring on its telephone banking service.
The new service, which is currently only available to Dutch customers, will use a person’s voice to determine whether a caller is the customer they claim to be, using more than 100 different sound characteristics for verification.
ABN says the technology was a necessary step because of the high amount of traffic its telephone banking service receives. The bank claims that 95% of its retail banking customers carry out transactions and investment orders on the phone via the Internet.
The bank plans to introduce the system on a voluntary basis initially, emphasizing what ABN Amro calls “it ease of use to the customer,” but if successful, the bank may expand use of the system to its 16 million customers.