On June 15, Bankinter and Mobbeel jointly presented its’s groundbreaking broker application for mobiles, an application that identifies the client by using a biometric iris recognition system (developed by Mobbeel).

This unique technology allows clients to access their brokerage accounts on their smartphones through an iris recognition system which requires only the use of the smartphone’s camara, without the need for additional hardware or external sensors. This new technology is an important step forward when compared to traditional username plus password identification and authentication protocols.

Iris recognition is the most reliable form of biometric recognition, as it is practically impossible to find two identical irises, and thus offering an extremely high degree of security. This security, together with a simplified user experience, makes for the technology to be an ideal solution for mobile financial services and mobile investment brokerage solutions.

Generally speaking, iris recognition works in the following manner: Upon capturing a close-up image of the face, the application isolates the eye and proceeds to identify the exterior and interior borders of the iris, codifying these through complex imagery treatment algorithms. The entire process for recognizing the iris is performed on the mobile device, from the image capture of the iris, to biometric pattern identification and user matching and identification.

Bankinter is the first bank to use this technology, which in its initial phase has been deployed onto iPhone 4 given the significant penetration of these smartphones amongst its customer base: 55% of Bankinter’s mobile banking customers have an iPhone.

In the following phase, and depending on technology acceptance by users and rendering in terms of usability and security, Bankinter does not rule out using this same technology for other digital remote channels: ATMs, Telephone Banking, Internet Banking, etc.

This pioneering application in Spain is a significant advancement in the value-added mobile banking services that Bankinter has implemented over the years for its customers, such as the possibility of accessing accounts, engaging in financial transactions and real-time trading, or advanced functionalities such as geo-location through augmented reality.