You’ve probably already seen reports about the facial recognition tech built into next month’s iPhone X.
Apple claims that the chances of a facial mismatch using the technology are around 1 in 1,000,000, a substantial improvement on the 1 in 50,000 that results from previous generation fingerprint matching technology.
If these claims are accurate – and those for other smartphone facial recognition systems - then this is a very high level of security and we believe that it could soon be built into a number of online motor finance processes.
The percentage of motor finance applications that pass through our systems using smartphones is now around 50% and the iPhone is by far the most popular single means of access, so anything that makes it easier and faster to use is to be very much welcomed.
Facial recognition could be used simply to verify that an applicant is who they say they are in the first instance but then to access their account details on an ongoing basis in a rapid and secure manner. It might even be that once a car purchase has been completed entirely online – something that we are seeing more and more often - the technology is used to match the person collecting the car to the online application.
From our point of view, facial recognition is not a game changer but it is significant when it comes to security and ease of use.