One of Shanghai’s leading commercial lenders is using facial recognition technology to identify clients that make use of its new “smart counters,” enabling them to dispense with bank cards and smart phones when accessing services.
The Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) has just launched China’s first smart “i-Counter,” which enables clients to independently handle over 90% of conventional over-the-counter operations.
According to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency the i-Counter employs a range of advanced technologies, chief amongst new bio-identification methods involving facial recognition and fingerprint scans that were developed domestically.
The latest facial recognition technology shores up security for bank clients, with the i-Counter using infrared binocular cameras to take on-site photos of clients and compare them with database images.
This means SPDB’s clients can access banking services such as cash withdrawals without the need for bank cards or even their smart phones.
The i-Counter also seeks to improve efficiency and reduce service times by integrating and simplifying certain complex bank procedures.
Using the i-Counter bank clients of SPDB can open accounts, sign contracts and make deposits within the space of just several minutes.
