The financial services industry is facing unprecedented challenges, balancing cost pressures, customer experience demands, compliance, and ever-increasing security risks.
In fact, the finance sector is now the third most targeted industry in Europe. The number of financial institutions globally that have experienced ransomware attacks has increased over the last five years with 65% of financial organisations reporting a ransomware attack in 2024, compared to 64% in 2023 and 34% in 2021. In the UK alone, nearly half (48%) of finance and insurance organisations identified cyber breaches or attacks last year, according to the Government’s 2025 Cyber Security Breaches Survey.
Technology advancements in AI, coupled with outdated authentication methods, are enabling cybercriminals to commit ID fraud on a higher scale than ever before which can lead to social engineering attacks, financial losses, and significant reputational damage for organisations.
Here at FARx, we believe the strongest form of defence lies in continuous biometric verification of the user’s identity. Traditionally, voice biometrics work in two ways: text-dependent systems, where a person registers a set phrase such as ‘My voice is my password’ and must repeat that phrase for verification; or text-independent systems, which can recognise and confirm a person’s identity from their natural, free-flowing speech without needing a fixed phrase.
However, we bridge the gap between these two methods. Our technologies are specifically designed to meet the banking and financial sector’s rigorous security and data privacy requirements. FARx allows the customer to enrol and verify using set phrases and conversational speech spoken in any language. When paired with speech recognition, FARx Voice Biometrics allows automated voice services to know what is being said and, most importantly, who is speaking.
The four-way value proposition
Operational Benefits
Significant ROI (Return on Investment)
Identity verification is one of the largest recurring costs in the banking and financial sectors. Every customer and employee interaction requires proof of identity, and traditional methods, PINs, passwords, tokens, one-time passwords (OTPs), and knowledge-based questions, are not only frustrating and inconvenient but also expensive to administer.
FARx, the only fused biometrics technology to combine speaker, speech and face recognition to recognise what is being said and who is speaking, replaces these outdated and inherently insecure approaches. We substitute them with frictionless, continuous biometric verification. This reduces reliance on costly legacy systems, lowers the burden on support teams, and enables banks to deliver secure authentication for customers and employees at scale. This method of authentication not only streamlines operations but also delivers a significant ROI and improved profitability to the bank.
Improved NPS (Net Promotor Scores)
Ask any customer about the most frustrating aspect of banking interactions, and identity verification is usually at the top of the list. Answering tedious questions or waiting for OTPs creates unnecessary friction that directly lowers satisfaction scores and, in turn, Net Promoter Scores (NPS) – a global measure of customer satisfaction, advocacy, and trust commonly used in banking and other industries.
When customers are asked, “Would you recommend this bank to a friend or colleague?”, a complicated or frustrating identity verification process often leads them to say no, an outcome no bank wants.
However, with FARx, verification happens seamlessly in the background, instantly eliminating this problem. Customers and employees are authenticated continuously without disruptive security challenges, giving service teams peace of mind that the person they are speaking with is a biometrically verified customer or employee and allowing them to focus on delivering exceptional experiences. This leads to happier customers, greater trust in the institution, and stronger long-term loyalty.
Compliance Benefits
Strengthening Security and Fraud Prevention
The banking and financial services sector is one of the most tightly regulated industries in the world, with institutions required to comply with a complex web of mandates. These are designed to implement a high level of protection to secure personal information and ensure compliant operation of banking and financial services, processes and functions. Some of these rules and regulations include:
- Know Your Customer (KYC)
- Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
- General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR)
- Payment Services Directive 2 (PSD2)
- Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 (NIS Regulations)
Strong identity authentication and fraud detection are at the heart of compliance. Without robust identity authentication, compliance breaks down, exposing financial institutions to fraud, penalties, and reputational damage.
FARx’s fused biometric verification technology enables banks to not only verify the identity of their customers and employees but also allows them to flag potential fraudsters for further scrutiny. FARx retains a list of known fraudsters which organisations can then compare against. This helps institutions not only comply with regulations but also stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated criminal activity.
Complying with GDPR
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires banks and financial services organisations to provide the highest level of protection for customers’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Safeguarding personal data is not only a legal obligation but also a growing concern for both customers and employees who expect their information to remain private and secure.
However, traditional verification methods like pins and passwords used in customer service centres and IT help desks often rely on sharing or confirming PII, such as account numbers, addresses, or security questions, to grant access. This practice unnecessarily exposes sensitive data to service desk agents, creating privacy risks and raising serious compliance challenges under GDPR.
FARx eliminates the need for agents to handle PII. Through continuous biometric verification, the user’s identity is authenticated automatically, keeping personal data secure. This ensures compliance while strengthening customer confidence that their information is being safeguarded.
The future of identity verification in banking and financial services must be seamless and secure. Outdated traditional methods and single-step biometric verification no longer meet the demands of today’s world. A fused and continuous multi-factor biometric authentication is the new standard for verifying customers and employees while meeting the highest compliance standards.
FARx works extensively with partners to support integration into business applications, ensuring highly cost-effective deployments into new or existing banking and financial services applications.
To learn more about how fused voice-face biometrics can benefit banking and financial services, get in touch with our expert team here.