It's time for business to take selfies seriously.

Biometric technologies, and especially their behavioral varieties, are gaining increasing popularity in financial services around the world. They are increasingly referred to as the most convenient way to verify identity, since users do not need to memorize numbers, codes, or passwords. In an effort to maximize the use of this type of technology, a number of banks have started testing biometric methods within a limited audience or in certain markets. It is possible that very soon biometric methods may become common in the financial sector, which will forever reject passwords.

Be that as it may, not all types of biometrics today are equally researched and applied. Recently, the focus has been on face recognition and self-pay as the main means for dealing with forgotten passwords, “abandoned baskets” and other problems. Given that 53% of customers forget their passwords at least once a week and usually have to spend more than 10 minutes to reset them, using selfies has every chance to bring tangible benefits to the online payment industry.

Moreover, a survey conducted by Mastercard in 2015 revealed that approximately every third buyer abandons an online operation because he is unable to remember the password. The company's specialists conclude that the use of self as a way to verify identity will be a much simpler option, ultimately leading to an increase in conversion rate.

The results of the study , published in June by analyst firm Lux Research, indicate that a prudent combination of safe, simple, and cost-effective biometric technologies in terms of mobile applications can be the most effective way to achieve 200% or more growth in 2016. The combination of facial and behavioral metrics, according to the researchers, ranks second in ease of use, yielding identification by drawing veins on the arm.
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Not only consumer trends lead to the need to find the best solution for confirmation and payment mechanisms. The financial services industry has also experienced the impact of advanced smartphones, which provided an opportunity to capture an image and create a demand for its use as an authentication method or for entering data into forms that previously could only be filled in with a long manual entry. And since this method has proven to be extremely convenient and efficient, it became clear that cameras create an opportunity to attract experienced smartphone users by offering confirmation methods based on their usual and pleasant manipulations, for example, using selfies.

Some experts seriously believe that an unprecedented increase in the practical use of telephone cameras will be observed primarily in the banking sector. According to a survey conducted by technology provider Mitek, 54% of millennials reported that they used the mobile money deposit service, and their deposits grew by 20% over the previous year. At the same time, 40% of respondents expressed a desire to receive more services in their mobile banking.

According to the Lincoln Savings Bank, every day users make 1 million selfies. Given the high popularity, introducing a selfie into the process of providing everyday services seems like a logical opportunity for many different types of businesses. It is quite possible that the combination of a pleasant and familiar to customers practice with online shopping can lead to the opening of new frontiers in the field of e-commerce and banking.

Who has advanced the farthest in the use of selfies

The fact that some large companies in all pairs are seeking to stake out their place among other innovators engaged in the development of technologies with the use of selfies, speaks of the great potential of this method.

For example, according to the latest data, Ant Financial is the largest player in the online payment market, supervising the activities of the Alipay service, and in combination, a structural unit of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, recently acquired the developer of biometric security technologies EyeVerify. This acquisition will help the company apply for its purposes the technology of scanning the pattern of blood vessels and other microscopic characteristics of the eye. Earlier this year, Ant Financial and EyeVerify accepted an agreement according to which the Eyeprint ID software was integrated into the Alipay payment platform. Last year, Alibaba founder Jack Ma held a short demonstration on the future of payments at the CeBIT information technology exhibition in Germany. He showed a new electronic payment system that uses face recognition.

Another interesting example is Mastercard and its initiative to introduce secure payments based on eye blink checks. One of the world's largest payment operators has been experimenting with Face Recognition Selfie Pay since last summer, allowing cardholders to try this service for a few weeks by making online purchases by scanning their faces . The company began testing the options for making payments using selfies through the company's identity identity check application.

Ajay Bhala, director of technical and information security at MasterCard, said the following about this:

“Consumers hate passwords. We know that the most common password is “123456”, so we often encounter situations where data is not protected, and people also use the same password on many sites at once. If one site is hacked, then all other places where users have the same password set up are compromised, and because of this they have big problems. ”

Amazon, the fourth largest US company in terms of market capitalization, is also looking for ways to further improve the purchasing process. The company also patented payment using a selfie. According to available information , in March, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant applied for a patent describing a process that allows buyers to make purchases by photographing or videotaping themselves instead of entering a password to log into the account.

Nor should we forget such a prominent player as PayPal. The payment system checks a similar concept with the help of its mobile application, which is based on a combination of selfies and verification of geolocation data of the user. The service was launched in 50 Canadian establishments in Toronto. Users can register at restaurants, bars or mobile eateries and place an order. The cashier just needs to look at the customer's photo, make a “swipe right” and the order will be paid.

Another player in the payments market, Apple, also takes selfie very seriously. Last year, the technology giant filed an application for patenting face recognition technology to add self-authentication to the iPhone.

In the banking sector, self-identification has already been adopted by HSBC. In the near future, its customers will be able to open accounts through banking facial recognition technology.

In the end, it all comes down to a smooth digital interaction and the ability to easily and smoothly make purchases. The fewer obstacles users encounter while placing an order, the more significantly the conversion rates will increase and the better for the business.