As reported Wednesday by BBC News, two banks in the United Kingdom will soon allow their customers access their bank accounts using Touch ID-based fingerprint identification technology, a UK first.
“RBS and NatWest customers must activate the feature with their security information, but would only need to use Apple’s Touch ID thereafter,” reports the BBC.
To protect their customers’ sensitive financial information and mitigate risk, the banks have put a number of restrictions in place to augment Apple’s existing Touch ID safeguards.
For instance, RBS and NatWest customers must activate the feature with their security information to optionally authenticate their apps with Touch ID. After three failed login attempts they would have to type in their security details to re-enable the option.
Also, certain features like withdrawing money require extra verification. The two banks have 880,000 customers who use iOS apps on the iPhone 5s, iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, representing an ample base of Touch ID-enabled customers.
Over in the United States, financial institutions and services like Simple, American Express and Discover are already using Touch ID to secure their apps.
Source: BBC News