The banking group is joining a trend of lenders using this form of client authentication to make its service faster and more secure.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group is using state-of-the-art voice-activated systems so that clients can transact in sums above A$1,000 ($760) over mobile devices, a sign of how lenders are trying to foil hackers.

ANZ said that from the middle of 2017, customers transferring more than A$1,000 through ANZ’s mobile apps will be able to use their voice to automatically authorise high-value payments. Previously, customers were required to use internet banking or visit a branch to complete transactions over A$1,000.

“A person’s voice has five to ten times as many security points than other methods such as fingerprints so we know this will improve security and be welcomed by our customers. The technology is now so advanced that it can tell the difference between identical twins or even a voice recording,” said Peter Dalton, managing director for customer experience and digital channels, ANZ. 

The shift by banks towards biometric forms of authentication is happening amid concerns that reliance on password-based internet banking, for example, is vulnerable. In 2015, Telesign, an account security firm, carried out a study showing that 73 per cent of adults in the US and UK use the same password for all activities and 54 per cent of them use five or fewer passwords for all online purposes.

Banks that have embraced voice biometrics as part of their offerings include Singapore-headquartered DBS, Citigroup and HSBC.

“We also know that people are becoming more comfortable with using their voice to do basic commands on their devices, so we see this is a natural extension of current technology and we are expecting this to be a popular enhancement of our mobile apps,” ANZ’s Dalton said.

ANZ has worked with the voiceprint and biometrics company Nuance to bring out the technology. A pilot programme will begin with ANZ staff and select customers in May using the Grow by ANZ mobile app. The service will then be rolled out to ANZ goMoney and other digital services progressively.