Sberbank’s accession to the service for opening accounts for new clients remotely using a unified biometric system (UBS) is unlikely to dramatically increase the confidence of Russians in the technology and increase the number of casts in the database, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe… Now the system stores about 160 thousand samples of the face and voice of citizens, assessed for Izvestia in the Central Bank. Already 11 credit organizations have launched remote provision of services. So far, the Russians are wary of the service, because they are not sure about the security of the system and fear the misuse of the casts…
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In 2021, Sberbank will start opening accounts for Russians without visiting an office using State Services and the Central Bank’s Unified Biometric System, said Elena Levina, director of the Customer Care division of the credit institution. According to her, this can be done both through the website and in the Sberbank Online mobile application. First, the user will have to log in using the login and password from the State Services, where he needs to have a verified account, and then – to go through identification using the EBS, Elena Levina explained.
She clarified that Sberbank service will be launched in connection with the new legislation… Amendments to the “anti-money laundering” law concerning the EBS were adopted in December 2020. In accordance with them, from January 1, 2022, all banks with a universal license will be required to provide customers with the opportunity, if they wish, to open accounts or deposits, as well as issue loans remotely using the EBS through their mobile applications or official websites, the Central Bank stressed.
The unified biometric system was launched in Russia in July 2018. It is possible to submit casts of the face and voice to 13.3 thousand branches of 231 banks, Izvestia was told at the regulator. According to him, the database contains more than 160 thousand samples.… Already 11 credit institutions provide remote biometrics services, the Central Bank stressed.
Among them are VTB, Tinkoff, Post Bank, Sovcombank, Home Credit, Rosselkhozbank, Ak Bars Bank, SKB-Bank, Promsvyazbank, they told Izvestia in Rostelecom, which EBS. In 2021, in addition to Sberbank, the Crimean RNKB and Absolut Bank are preparing to launch the service, their representatives told Izvestia. Rostelecom expects that all credit institutions with a universal license will manage to do this by the end of the year.
Now, to open an account with the help of the EBS, the client enters the application or the bank’s website, but then using a special link is redirected to the Rostelecom portal (to the Biometrics application or to the website of the Unified Biometric System), the operator explained. The press service specified: Rostelecom’s services fully comply with the regulator’s requirements for cybersecurity. A credit institution can integrate the functionality into its own application or website, but in this case, the bank needs to independently refine the protection of the system…
Justified fears
After the innovation, the largest player, Sberbank, will become only one of the banks that practice opening biometrics accounts., stated the Deputy Head of the National Council of the Financial Market Alexander Naumov. He stressed that the main problem in the development of the project is the low popularity of the technology among the population. People are afraid to submit their biometric data, because they have no guarantee that someone else will not receive a loan, the expert said.
According to him, citizens, along with biometrics, should have other, easier ways to obtain financial servicesin which the risks are offset by restrictions on the types of transactions or their size. In this case, the check can be carried out via video communication or via a mobile phone, believes Alexander Naumov.
Technologically, Sberbank is one of the most advanced credit organizations in the country: because of this, it can affect the number of clients using biometrics, believes the managing director of the NKR rating agency Stanislav Volkov. He added: at the same time, the natural limitation of the process will be not the most attractive offers of Sberbank for a number of products…
The growing popularity of biometrics is limited, first of all, by the formal approach of a number of banks to the collection of casts, since they do not want to invest in the appropriate equipment and technologies, Stanislav Volkov is convinced. He added that the second inhibiting factor is the reluctance of customers to transfer their data due to various fears, which are often justified… For example, Russians are afraid that their biometric data will be leaked to the public or, without consent, will be transferred to the disposal of government agencies.
Citizens of the Russian Federation have always been wary of innovations in the financial sphere: this was the case, for example, with paying with a smartphone, but now this technology is used by a huge number of people, recalled Egor Dakhtler, an analyst at BCS World of Investments. According to him, the widespread use of biometrics can be expected in the next three years. The ability to open an account with Sberbank remotely will not have a significant impact on the bank’s business, since it already has the largest client base on the market, the expert added.
Sber has its own database of customer faces and voices. Their number is in the millions, the head of the bank German Gref said earlier.