Chase Testing Voiceprints for Customer ID

Chase Manhattan Corp. has become one of the first to use technology that identifies bank customers by the sounds of their voices, rather than by keyed-in personal identification numbers or passwords.

Since May 6, customers of two Chase offices in New York - part of the old Chemical Bank network - have been verifying their identities by speaking into telephone handsets.

It is one example of a biometric system that measures unique physiological or behavioral characteristics. Alternative methods, each with adherents and generating at least exploratory interest among bankers and makers of automated banking machines, involve fingerprints, faces, signatures, and even the retinas or irises in a person's eyes.

Chase said voice verification has proved popular among customers in its test and reduced waiting times. The bank is planning broader deployment of the system, which it has called Xtra Secure.

"Hands down, voice is the best biometric," said Elizabeth Boyle, vice president in branch administration at Chase.

To enroll, a person calls a toll-free number and, when prompted, repeats the phrase "Verification by Chemical Bank" (a nod to the fact that the project began at Chase's merger partner). Enrollment can also be done in person at the pilot branches.

The system stores a template of the person's voice based on pitch, tone, and other qualities. Each time an enrolled customer wants to perform a transaction - either from a remote location or from phones specially installed at each teller station in the two branches - the system tries to match the voice to its template.

If a match is found, the system dispenses a paper receipt that lets a teller know the customer has been positively identified.

When the system is fully deployed, Ms. Boyle said, the receipts will go away - they are being used now to count transactions - and non-Chase customers will be allowed to enroll.

So far, 9,000 cardholders have signed up, half of them in the branches and half by telephone, Ms. Boyle said.

"The system's performance has been excellent, and false negatives (incorrect rejections) have not been a problem," she said."Because you have to have a card and you have to have the same voice structure as the person who has the card, it gets to be Fort Knox."

Bank officials are hopeful the system will help reduce what Ms. Boyle described as "millions in losses due to impostor fraud."

The bank is touting the security virtues in literature at the test branches.

"Unlike some other verification methods - such as signatures or photographs - your personal voiceprint cannot be altered or duplicated," reads a letter on display from one branch manager. "Even if someone sounds like you, tries to imitate you, or records your voice, they cannot match your specific voiceprint."

Ms. Boyle said Chase held focus-group interviews and conducted field trials before deciding which of the biometrics to try.

About 80% of consumers surveyed found fingerprint scanning acceptable, while 90% approved of voice verification, she said.

"Customers agree with us that any of the biometric security measures is more secure than a PIN," she said.

"I think customers appreciate efforts made on their behalf in terms of improving security," Ms. Boyle said.

Chase, Citicorp, and a growing number of other banks are testing voice verification internally. A typical application is to control access to secure areas. Champions of the technology hope it will find its way to transactions on the Internet.

Handprint or fingerprint identification systems are further along, particularly in internal or closed systems. Fingerprinting's costs have fallen to the point at which mass-market deployment is almost feasible, and some credit-card crimefighters say it could pay off in fraud reductions.

Advocates of voice verification say they recoil at the criminal or Orwellian overtones, even though fingerprint templates would more likely be kept on smart cards than in central data banks.

"I don't want to have my fingerprint taken to cash a check at the bank," said Christopher Tomes, president of Veritel Corp. of Chicago. "Saying your name over the telephone is not something perceived as invasive."

Veritel's voice verification technology is being tested by Bank of Boston Corp. and American Express Co., Mr. Tomes said.

Chase's system is a product of Votan Corp. in Pleasanton, Calif., a subsidiary of Moscom Corp. of Pittsford, N.Y. Votan has been in the voice verification business since 1979, said its president, John A. White, and has deployed 500 systems around the world.

"This is not new stuff," he said. "But now people are more comfortable with it, and the quality of voice recognition and verification is more reliable."

Mr. White added, "The banking industry is looking for ways to reduce their cost of doing business and to reduce fraud, and those two things have become drivers to the technology."

Possible evidence of the technology's growth and acceptance: the Votan Corp. is in registration for a $30 million initial public offering this month.

As public attention has turned toward biometrics, several manifestations of the technology have edged into the spotlight. The popular movie "Mission: Impossible" showed viewers a variety of biometrics in action. And at this month's Olympic Games, hand geometry readers were used as security devices for access to hotel doors.

Cardtech/Securetech of Rockville, Md., compiles an annual directory of the biometrics industry. Although this year the directory includes a record 77 companies, fewer than 20 of them are shipping commercially viable products, said Benjamin Miller, the company's chairman.

"Biometrics are not a security panacea, but they're better than the technologies we have today," Mr. Miller said. "They have a tremendous advantage in that they can't be lost, stolen, or forgotten."

The consumer acceptance of voice verification bodes well for the technology's use by financial services companies. Nevertheless, Mr. Miller said, "Voice has some technological challenges that have not been fully addressed at this point."

Voices change over time. Pitch and intonation can vary depending on the time of day or a person's mood. Someone who locks valuables in a safe- deposit box might return a year later to find the system does not recognize his voice.

The quality or brand of a telephone or how close to the mouth the handset is held also cause signal variations.

"The more people practice with the system, the fewer false negatives they get," said Barry C. Phelps, chairman of VoicePrint Security Systems Inc., Stamford, Conn.

VoicePrint's system is being used for door access by Bear Stearns & Co. and for employee identification by the Illinois Department of Revenue. Banks have been slow to sign on, Mr. Phelps said, despite his claim that "for $50,000, I can bullet-proof your system."

In most voice verification systems - including the one Chase is using - the sensitivity to variations can be adjusted for each individual, so those more consistent in how they speak their passwords can have a higher level of security.

Other human problems can interfere, of course.

"A cold I have no problem with, sinuses I have no problem with, but laryngitis is like forgetting your card or leaving your keys at home," said George Lang, president of Voice Strategies in Troy, Mich. His company's system is being used for door access in hospitals, colleges, and office buildings.

Mr. Lang acknowledged the glitches but noted that "The beauty of the system is that I can tell you my password and give you my PIN, and that won't mean anything to you, because you still can't get in."

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER