Customer experience

Cambridge Blockchain, a startup that bills its technology as a solution for banks to the competing regulatory imperatives of transparency and privacy, has raised $2 million through a convertible note.

The initiative would add payments to the country's national identity system, but the government wants more time to review Mastercard's proposal.

The president's executive order reflects a lack of trust in the identity information shared between countries. In theory, blockchains are tailor-made to solve this problem, but current systems may not be up to the task.

Facebook now lets users log in using a physical token. If banks gave consumers this option, it would strengthen the security of online accounts — or at least bolster their image.

Some vendors have begun offering authentication platforms through which biometrics and other authentication tools can be plugged into any or all channels. TD Bank is sold on this concept, but others are not completely sure.

Mobile app photo IDs have had mixed success, but Credntia's betting an overall spike in mobile technology will lead to robust use of its app.

Mastercard will launch its “selfie pay” system in the Asia-Pacific region next year, expanding the global reach of its biometric identity-verification service for online payments to more markets as part of a gradual worldwide rollout.

Wells Fargo & Co. said retail customers opened 44 percent fewer new accounts in October compared with the same period a year earlier following the bank’s record-setting settlement with regulators over its cross-selling scandal.

The leading US bitcoin exchange, Coinbase, has begun using Jumio’s face match software for digital identity, adding another layer of legacy financial services on top of something that was created as an alternative to the traditional system.

The rules can be tricky, but social data can add lots of detail that can help prove identity and reduce fraud.