UK Banks Introducing Touch ID Access to iPhone Apps

[MacRumors]

Two banks based out of the United Kingdom - Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest - yesterday announced incoming support of Touch ID in their iOS-based apps, allowing customers to gain access to their accounts without needing to input a user name and password (via BBC News).

Customers of each bank will need to activate the Touch ID feature with their existing security information within each respective app before being able to gain access to their banking statements via their finger. After three failed Touch ID login attempts, each bank said the app will revert to the traditional user name/password protected log-in request before needing to re-establish the Touch-ID features.

BBC reported that a few "security experts" voiced concern over the new fingerprint security feature given reports of specialized fake fingerprint hacks. Speaking to BBC, Ben Schlabs, of SRLabs, a German hacking think tank, said, "The security implications are the same, it is just as dangerous... I think it has been shown that it is pretty easy to spoof it and the risks aren't fully understood." There have, however, been no reports of such hacks being successfully used for malicious purposes.

With the recent surge of online and app-based banking solutions, both RBS and NatWest are confident the new feature will continue to offer their customers the level of security and accessibility they expect from the banks.

Stuart Haire, managing director, RBS and NatWest Direct Bank, said: "There has been a revolution in banking, as more and more of our customers are using digital technology to bank with us.

"Adding TouchID to our mobile banking app makes it even easier and more convenient for customers to manage their finances on the move and directly responds to their requests."

Both RBS and NatWest are owned by the same parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, so many of the same features and options will be similar between each app. Each bank also promised that existing processes that required additional verification of identity, like money transfers, will continue to do so even if users choose to opt-in for the Touch ID features.

Article Link: UK Banks Introducing Touch ID Access to iPhone Apps

 

[bushido]

Same with Postbank in Germany. Saw a commercial for it while watching Fifty Shades of Crap at the movies last night

 

[SMIDG3T]

Tweeted Barclays about this and they didn't rule it out and are looking into it. Hopefully it won't be too long.

 

[Chrjy]

Quite frankly I'd rather see ApplePay introduced in the UK, that would be much more useful!

 

[Zxxv]

Both RBS and NatWest are owned by the same parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, so many of the same features and options will be similar between each app. Each bank also promised that existing processes that required additional verification of identity, like money transfers, will continue to do so even if users choose to opt-in for the Touch ID features.

They only require extra verification when you initially set them up but going into the natwest banking app you just select who you want to send money to and then send it.

I can't see me using touch ID to unlock and access my banking app. It is not secure and opens me unto others making me use my finger to transfer money and to get cash. That is unless they have put more safe guards in place which means its a step backwards not forwards in terms of user experience. Of course I'll wait and see but from the article it seems a dumb unsecure security hole of a move.

 

[Keane16]

Quite frankly I'd rather see ApplePay introduced in the UK, that would be much more useful!

Both useful. One is up to the bank. One is up to Apple. We'll get it, hopefully in a few months along with the other Summer announcements.

Good to see Touch ID adoption spreading too though, extremely useful in it's own little way.

 

[Jeff Meredith]

Fingerprint Security is an Option. But Compared to PIN

Getting a viable fingerprint along with a users phone is not easy.

I respect the German hacking groups efforts but I think I could get a PIN with 100 times less difficulty. If I have to do a high resolution image of a finger, held just right, why couldn't I just SloMo Video the entering of a PIN.

The fingerprint is not stored in the cloud it is stored in the secure element on the phone. So it can't be mass harvested.

Compared to a PIN. I'll take the fingerprint anytime. For Apple Pay you can choose to use PIN only and your PINs can be longer than 4 digits.

Yes you can lift a fingerprint from a glass but you're talking a very targeted and dedicated crime and you still have to steal the phone. Are criminals going to find that worth the effort.

PINs are notoriously insecure, how many of them are anniversary or child or parents birthdays or street address of last four of SSN or telephone number. A bunch.

In the US even our Chip and PIN cards are not requiring a PIN at the one place I have been able to use it Walmart.

So I think the English banks use of FingerPrint tech like AliPay's last year is a big step in greater authentication.

 

[MH01]

Some good news from UK banks Now for them to work on Apple Pay, I'm more interested in that, it does not take long to put in a pin number for an app you only use occasionally .

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Tweeted Barclays about this and they didn't rule it out and are looking into it. Hopefully it won't be too long.

I'm with Barcalys, and I swear its a Stockholm syndrome relationship.....

 

[Zxxv]

Some good news from UK banks Now for them to work on Apple Pay, I'm more interested in that, it does not take long to put in a pin number for an app you only use occasionally .

and you don't want your partner who's planning on leaving you using your finger whilst you sleep thanks to the heavy night of drinking she seduced you into and unlocking your iPhone and transferring funds to her account. Hey you must have done it right as its your finger haha

no thanks I'll still use a pin code

and if you still have to use a pincode to do stuff like transfer and get cash in the app then they've just made an extra step for you by making you reach down to use touch ID first.

 

[avanpelt]

I hope Wells Fargo introduces Touch ID for account authentication in their app at some point.

I'm not holding my breath because their app has always been just their mobile site in an app wrapper -- with the exception of the mobile deposit feature, which is unique to the app.

For a company that has been touting their support of Apple Pay nearly every place they've had marketing since October, their iOS app is still surprisingly bad.

 

[NomadicTy]

Those afraid of fingerprint hacks, they can just make it where one can view account data with the Touch ID. But to make any sort of payments or transfers outside the user's accounts, they could still prompt for their account passwords.

 

[Zxxv]

Those afraid of fingerprint hacks, they can just make it where one can view account data with the Touch ID. But to make any sort of payments or transfers outside the user's accounts, they could still prompt for their account passwords.

thats makes the user experience worse than it is now.

how it functions now

open app - enter pin - do everyhting

how it functions tomorrow

open app - touch ID to unlock - do something - enter pin - continue doing what you wanted to do

*hand clap* if this is how its going to be

 

[r-m]

This must be a good sign for apple pay? If banks are embracing Touch ID as good enough to secure their app, surely they'll view Touch ID as good enough to secure payments using their customers' card info via apple pay?
Those recent reports that banks are questioning the security of Apple pay, well, this update kinda throws that concern out of the window.

 

[Zxxv]

This must be a good sign for apple pay? If banks are embracing Touch ID as good enough to secure their app, surely they'll view Touch ID as good enough to secure payments using their customers' card info via apple pay?
Those recent reports that banks are questioning the security of Apple pay, well, this update kinda throws that concern out of the window.

They already offer NFC on cards uptp £25 is it? so they can offer the same via touch ID as its NFC too. I'd prefer apple pay over unlocking the banking ap with touch ID which to me is unsecure and a less smooth user experience if it goes as I laid out above.

 

[r-m]

and you don't want your partner who's planning on leaving you using your finger whilst you sleep thanks to the heavy night of drinking she seduced you into and unlocking your iPhone and transferring funds to her account. Hey you must have done it right as its your finger haha

no thanks I'll still use a pin code

and if you still have to use a pincode to do stuff like transfer and get cash in the app then they've just made an extra step for you by making you reach down to use touch ID first.

The partner could just use the pin code as easily.. Because in a trusting, non-paranoid relationship, chances are both partners already know each other's pin codes for bank cards

 

[Zxxv]

The partner could just use the pin code as easily.. Because in a trusting, non-paranoid relationship, chances are both partners already know each other's pin codes for bank cards

of course you could trust them with your pin code, but I wouldn't share mine with them and I wouldn't want to know theres. And in relationships that aren't as long term and committed the chance of being done over rises. Its just not secure in any shape or form.

 

[Kzadum]

In Spain Banc Sabadell already supports touchid on its mobile app, it's great!

 

[r-m]

They already offer NFC on cards uptp £25 is it? so they can offer the same via touch ID as its NFC too. I'd prefer apple pay over unlocking the banking ap with touch ID which to me is unsecure and a less smooth user experience if it goes as I laid out above.

Generally £20 contactless limit. Some places never seemed to increased from the previous £15.
I've seen recently it might increase again - £25 or £30, can't remember which.
I assumed that was to do with Apple pay - I don't think we're going to lose the contactless limit even when Apple pay arrives.

Another good thing: Morrisons are rolling out contactless terminals. Hopefully they'll be an Apple Pay launch partner. Tesco are rolling it out, I think, because their self service checkouts have a greyed out contactless option.
The £20-30 limit means I can't do my weekly shop using Apple pay though, so I hope the limit goes, somehow.

Also the way I read the BBC article, is that nothing really will change, other than Touch ID rather than passcode when you first launch the app.
The secondary verification is remaining the same, for usage that currently has secondary verification.

Edit:
Link to Morrisons contactless rollout article, which also mentions the £20 limit increasing to £30 later in the year:
http://m.thegrocer.co.uk/513818.article?mobilesite=enabled

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Does anyone know when this app update is rolling out? I can't seem to find that mentioned in the article.

 

[2457282]

Quite frankly I'd rather see ApplePay introduced in the UK, that would be much more useful!

Hopefully this is a step that will lead to ApplePay.

 

[NomadicTy]

thats makes the user experience worse than it is now.

I have credit cards from multiple places, a couple of bank accounts, and a couple of brokerages. 19 times out of 20, I'm just looking at charges, entries, balances. I pay the cc's once a month. I've only had to set up bill pay from the bank accts MAYBE once a year. Sent wire transfers maybe once every few years.

If you think you want to be able to do all that with touch ID, that's fine. But I've partied too much before and passed out. Probably going to happen again. I wouldn't want someone to grab my phone, use my finger, and start sending money all over the place. No thanks.

 

[2010mini]

I hope citibank updates their app to support this

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I have credit cards from multiple places, a couple of bank accounts, and a couple of brokerages. 19 times out of 20, I'm just looking at charges, entries, balances. I pay the cc's once a month. I've only had to set up bill pay from the bank accts MAYBE once a year. Sent wire transfers maybe once every few years.

If you think you want to be able to do all that with touch ID, that's fine. But I've partied too much before and passed out. Probably going to happen again. I wouldn't want someone to grab my phone, use my finger, and start sending money all over the place. No thanks.

I would think partying until you are unconscious would be more of a concern to you than someone "stealing" your fingerprint.

 

[Zxxv]

Generally £20 contactless limit. Some places never seemed to increased from the previous £15.
I've seen recently it might increase again - £25 or £30, can't remember which.
I assumed that was to do with Apple pay - I don't think we're going to lose the contactless limit even when Apple pay arrives.

Another good thing: Morrisons are rolling out contactless terminals. Hopefully they'll be an Apple Pay launch partner. Tesco are rolling it out, I think, because their self service checkouts have a greyed out contactless option.
The £20-30 limit means I can't do my weekly shop using Apple pay though, so I hope the limit goes, somehow.

Also the way I read the BBC article, is that nothing really will change, other than Touch ID rather than passcode when you first launch the app.
The secondary verification is remaining the same, for usage that currently has secondary verification.

Edit:
Link to Morrisons contactless rollout article, which also mentions the £20 limit increasing to £30 later in the year:
http://m.thegrocer.co.uk/513818.article?mobilesite=enabled

----------

Does anyone know when this app update is rolling out? I can't seem to find that mentioned in the article.

I would have thought the limit will raise with touch ID as contactless on your credit card doesn't have any security or confirmation its you. Touch ID is security info that its you.

tesco are scum

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I have credit cards from multiple places, a couple of bank accounts, and a couple of brokerages. 19 times out of 20, I'm just looking at charges, entries, balances. I pay the cc's once a month. I've only had to set up bill pay from the bank accts MAYBE once a year. Sent wire transfers maybe once every few years.

If you think you want to be able to do all that with touch ID, that's fine. But I've partied too much before and passed out. Probably going to happen again. I wouldn't want someone to grab my phone, use my finger, and start sending money all over the place. No thanks.

exactly my point. Like I said many times here Touch ID for a banking app is not secure. Just about everytime I open my banking app its to get money. I don't want the hindrance thats proposed in the article.

 

[r-m]

I would have thought the limit will raise with touch ID as contactless on your credit card doesn't have any security or confirmation its you. Touch ID is security info that its you.

tesco are scum

that's what I'm hoping.

General questions and thoughts not aimed at you:
I'm not sure how terminals will work though.
Do they enable NFC for all payments, but reject if it isn't Apple pay? Can the terminals distinguish what is Apple pay and what isn't? Will we have to specify we're paying by Apple pay?
I guess there will be a way, but I don't have the knowledge of how the terminals work.

 

[MHenr]

ING bank in Belgium (I suppose other countries like the Netherlands as well) already implemented this months ago.
Very useful, I can use it to log in to my account and verify payments. Once in a while it asks for you old pass code for security measures.

It's quick and easy and works great!

 

[Zxxv]

that's what I'm hoping.

General questions and thoughts not aimed at you:
I'm not sure how terminals will work though.
Do they enable NFC for all payments, but reject if it isn't Apple pay? Can the terminals distinguish what is Apple pay and what isn't? Will we have to specify we're paying by Apple pay?
I guess there will be a way, but I don't have the knowledge of how the terminals work.

all your questions can be answered in the iPhone section. Look for apple pay, apple pay experiences, paying with apple pay etc as the US has been doing this and our terminal system is the same or ahead of theirs.