Citi has reached 1 million voice biometric users. The service was launched in May 2016, and has been implemented in Taiwan, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and India. Citi was the first financial services firm to deploy biometrics authentication across Asia-Pacific.

Clients who call into the bank’s contact centres have their identity automatically verified within 15 seconds or less as they explain their reason for calling. This is a reduction from an average time of around 45 seconds.

The voice biometrics authentication capability identifies customers through their voice print, which, similar to a fingerprint, is unique to each person. Each voice print is uniquely tagged and cannot be reverse engineered once stored.

“The rapid adoption of mobile and other digital channels has truly transformed how people bank,” says Anand Selva, head of Asia Pacific consumer banking at Citi.