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Spain's CaixaBank reports success with facial recognition at ATMs

It's been six month since CaixiaBank rolled out facial recognition at a handful of ATMs in Barcelona. Alejandro De Oleza, the bank's digital director, spoke on the progress of the biometric system at an ATMIA conference in Rome last week.

CaixaBank's Alejandro se Oleza at an ATMIA conference in Rome last week. Photo: Networld Media Group

October 25, 2019 by Amy Castor — Editor, Networld Media Group

A PIN (stands for personal identification number) is easy to forget, but facial recognition means you don't have to remember a PIN if you want to access services at an ATM.

Earlier this year, Spanish lender CaixaBank introduced facial recognition at a handful of its ATMs in an effort to shorten queues and create a "frictionless" experience for its customers. 

Six months into the pilot, the lender is reporting encouraging results. 

Speaking at an ATM Industry Association conference in Rome last week, Alejandro de Oleza, the bank's digital director, said that as a result of a poll, the bank learned early on that its customers were open to biometrics for identification purposes. In fact, 80% who were offered facial recognition as an option to PINs, joined the program.

Less than 5% of clients who registered for the program later switched back to use traditional PIN methods, he said. "And waiting times have been reduced by 5% contributing to a reduction of queues and contributing to the efficiency of the bank."

CaixiaBank, based in Barcelona and Valencia, is Spain's third largest lender by market value. It has around 60 million customers — 40 million in Spain and 2 million in Portugal — and around 5,000 branches and more than 10,000 ATMs, de Oleza said.

Facial recognition offers advantages over other forms of biometrics, such as finger print or palm vein readers, in that there is no direct contact with the machine. The technology uses facial features, such as nose width and cheekbone shape, to compare a digital image to a person's identity.

The bank developed the technology alongside IT services provider Fujitsu and face recognition developer FacePhi. Through the terminal's camera, which can identify up to 16,000 points on a user's face, the ATM recognizes the customer and validates the transaction.

The Spanish lender first implemented the verification system at a selection of ATMs in Barcelona and Valencia back in February, with plans to progressively expand the service across its branches in the second half of 2019.

Customer onboarding is carried out at the branch, de Oleza said. Once registration is complete, clients are no longer tethered to a PIN to withdraw cash at a biometrically configured ATMs. Of course, they still have the option to enter their PIN, if they want.

Since launching facial recognition at its ATMs, CaixiaBank has made several improvements to the service, including fine tuning the algorithm for better recognition.

Now the bank is ready to move forward.

"At the end of the first six months of the service, the bank is prepared to roll out the service to the rest of Spain," de Oleza said.

He added that starting in 2020, the bank's customers will be able to register their biometrics coordinates via their mobile devices.

About Amy Castor

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Amy Castor has more than 20 years of experience in journalism and mass communications. In the last several years, she has gotten particularly interested cryptocurrencies, blockchain technologies and other evolving forms of payment. Her work has appeared in consumer and trade publications throughout the U.S., including CoinDesk, Forbes, and Bitcoin Magazine. She is now the editor of ATMmarketplace.com and WorldofMoney.com

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Included In This Story

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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