The addition of biometric features further enhances the security of strong customer security, which is of crucial importance in a world that is becoming more and more digital. This multi-factor authentication solution allows financial institutions to comply with the Regulatory Technical Standards of PSD2. The updated solution, with biometric technology is also FIDO (Fast Identity Online) compliant.

Strong customer authentication
Users today increasingly utilize services such as online banking. This means they have to identify themselves online more and more often. With a large range of digital services available to end users, online services must be protected from unauthorized access at all times in the best possible way. The WL Trusted Authentication solution was built already years ago to answer the increasing needs of banks, governments and other organizations for strong authentication solutions to ensure secure remote access for mobile users. Since the start, this solution has been widely adopted and now processes more than ten million transactions per month.

Biometrics
The WL Trusted Authentication solution, provided with a software development kit (SDK) or a white-label app, already offered two-step verification via device enrolment (possession factor) and PIN code (knowledge factor). That means it already met the requirements of the PSD2 regulation to improve online payment security. With the introduction of fingerprint and faceID (inherence factor), users can now access their favorite online services even more securely. The biometric features also improve the ease of use and increase the adoption rate.The updated solution is compliant with the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) protocol, designed to address the lack of interoperability among strong authentication technologies, and remedy the problems users face when creating and remembering multiple usernames and passwords.

Innovating for the future
Wolf Kunisch, COO at equensWorldline: “With the introduction of biometric features, our authentication solution is future-proof. However, this does not mean that we are finished, on the contrary. In this rapidly evolving industry, innovation is key. Therefore we are continuously seeking ways to further improve the user experience while simultaneously enhancing the security of payment solutions for our clients and their customers.

Looking at future innovations, this year equensWorldline will release a browser-based version of Trusted Authentication, in complement with the mobile version. This will provide financial institutions with full coverage for all users, an important point to consider as a replacement solution for the SMS One Time Password (OTP).

WL Trusted Authentication can also be linked to Mobile Security Operation Center, the Worldline solution that protects users against frauds and attacks, such as sensitive data hacking and phishing. This mobile solution was honored with the Banque & Innovation award in 2018, which recognizes technological innovations that benefit customers.