Innovation

Singapore ATMs to use face verification

March 19, 2021

The Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation will enable its customers to use face verification at eight ATMs across the country, including the bank's main branches in Tamines, According to a company press release.

OCBC customers will only be able to use the authentication option to check their account balance, but customers will be able to access expanded services including cash withdrawals, cash deposits, funds transfer to other banks, cashcard top-ups, and credit card bill payments in the future, according to a press release. OCBC gave no timeline for the extended services to be available.

OCBC noted that balance queries and cash withdrawals were the two most used services at its ATMs, accounting for almost eight out of every 10 transactions at its Singapore machines.

The face verification feature is powered by the government's SingPass Face Verification system that can scan an individual's face and verify it against a national biometric database comprising images and identifies of more than four million local residents.The technology is embedded with security features to safeguard against fraud, such as capabilities to detect and block the use of photographs, videos, or masks during the verification process.

Customers wishing to use face verification will be prompted to enter an identification number before positioning their face within a frame on the screen. The eight selected ATMs are armed with a pre-installed web-enabled camera that takes a scan of the customer's face and verifies it in real-time against a database that OCBC's ATM is digitally linked to. Once verified, the customer can proceed with their transaction.

Singapore head of consumer financial services, Sunny Quek, noted that digital adoption within OCBC had grown more than 40% last year, with more customers signed up on the country's digital e-payment system PayNow, and PayNow transactions doubling, compared to 2019.

QR code cash withdrawals at the bank's ATMs, which was launched in July 2019, grew 88% year-on-year in 2020, Quek said.