Biometric technology has been widely used by banks and financial service providers. Aiming for faster processing and greater security against fraud, biometric solutions offer identity authentication via various means such as facial recognition, fingerprint recognition and iris recognition.
Now that network security has become a major concern, experts say biometrics and cloud-based identity management solutions will ensure more secure and faster interactions with technologies used to access places.
"Biometric technologies represent a major break from more conventional means of access control. This means there will be many new opportunities to use only fingerprints or faces when interacting with access technologies," said Rocky Chow, head of sales for Asia Pacific at HID Global's Extended Access Technologies Business Area.
HID Global, a leading identity solutions enabler, projects that fingerprint biometrics will expand into wider applications and that facial recognition will grow in popularity with its improved security and more seamless user identification experience, following digital transformation across many industries.
"Most of us think of personally identifiable information as something obvious like a social security number or account number. Aside from physical factors like fingerprints, face images and iris scans, the term also encompasses behavioural factors or so-called behavioural biometrics such as typing cadence and swipe pattern data," said Mr Chow.
Advancements in biometric technology allow these physical and behavioural identifiers to be layered together and combined with other authentication methods, namely public key cryptography and digital certificates for electronic signatures, he said.
Allied Market Research revealed that the global facial recognition market was valued at US$3.83 billion in 2020. The market is projected to reach $16.7 billion by 2030, growing at an annual compound growth rate of 16% from 2021 to 2030.
Asia Pacific, according to Transparency Market Research, held the leading share in the biometric market in 2022.
Mr Chow said that banks can attract and retain customers with the promise of convenience and ease of use whilst their customers benefit from the frictionless experience of no longer being required to remember or re-enter complicated passwords.
The region is projected to retain its sway during the forecast period of 2022-31, with the bulk of demand coming from the banking, financial services and insurance sector, following the increasing digital payments in several economies in the region.
Mr Chow said various industries and governments across Asia Pacific have already installed facial recognition systems to improve their security and convenience for users.
The Asia-Pacific region is also expected to witness significant growth in the facial recognition market during the same period, driven by government biometric-based projects such as national ID programmes, biometric passports and visas and biometric driving licences.
"In Singapore, citizens can use their faces to gain access to various government services. The country specifically allows people to use facial recognition to log into their accounts using the comprehensive SingPass digital identity programme," he said.
This year, HID also sees the opportunity in the rise of fintech, especially in Southeast Asia where retail banking is transforming much faster with mobile banking. The company will mainly focus on the electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) and ID proofing with facial recognition.
"Self-serve check-in, unmanned customer e-gates and seamless boarding at the airport will also boom in Southeast Asia," said Mr Chow.
"We continue to evolve and expand to service multiple markets with a comprehensive range of solutions that align with customers' changing needs and help them solve new and increasingly difficult challenges," he said.