One of the largest correspondent banks in the Federal Reserve’s 9th District and encompassing more than 1,200 community banks, United Bankers’ Bank (UBB) of Bloomington, Minn., is using fingerprint authorization to safeguard account information accessed by employees and customers.
Before implementation of biometric technology, UBB used a traditional computer passwords program as their primary authentication method for protecting confidential online data. Company security personnel were concerned that their current authentication system was a liability considering that the company’s community banks initiated transactions, specifically the wiring of money, through its correspondent accounts. Passwords were vulnerable as they could be shared, written down or compromised. Efficiency was a consideration as well; UBB was experiencing a high volume of support calls from both internal employees and bank-client customers whose passwords had expired or were forgotten.