Banks intensify customer assistance setting up biological authentication

For nearly 2 months now, commercial banks have been urging customers to authenticate biometrics to avoid disruptions in high-value online transactions. However, for various reasons, many account holders are facing difficulties in authentication.

Many account holders are waiting to be supported with facial biometric authentication at Binh Duong branch of Vietcombank

Customers face difficulties

According to reporters, in 2 days of July 1 and 2, at commercial banks of Vietcombank, BIDV, Agribank and many others, the number of customers waiting for bank staff to support biometric authentication has increased dramatically. At Vietcombank Binh Duong, even though it was late in the afternoon, hundreds of customers were still sitting and waiting to be supported in identifying themselves using NFC (Near-Field Communications) readers at the counter.

Ms. Huynh Thi Kieu Trinh, neighborhood 5, Chanh My ward, Thu Dau Mot city, said that she cannot transfer money because her account is locked on the new device. When she went to the bank for support to unlock it, she encountered biometric authentication. "Since I often have to make large-value transactions, as soon as I cannot authenticate myself, I have to go to the bank for assistance to avoid transaction interruptions," Ms. Trinh said.

Bank employees actively guide customers to update biometrics at the transaction counter

Similarly, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhu Quynh, Phu Loi Ward, Thu Dau Mot City, shared that she had tried to authenticate biometrics multiple times at home but was unsuccessful. "The machine kept reporting an error that the SIM card is not registered under the owner's name, even though I had already completed the registration for a registered SIM card with the network provider. I decided to go to the bank to seek assistance from the staff," Ms. Quynh said. Ms. Le Thi My Y, Hoa Loi Ward, Ben Cat City, said that she also encountered an error when trying to scan the ID card on the back of the phone using NFC. After 3 unsuccessful attempts, she went to the bank for assistance.

Active support

Ms. Dang Thi Huong, Deputy Director of Vietcombank Binh Duong, said that in the past 2 days, the branch and 4 transaction offices (Tan Uyen, Bac Tan Uyen, VSIP, Thu Dau Mot) have received over 3,000 customers, doubling or tripling the usual number. Among them, many customers come to the counter to perform biometric authentication using facial recognition. Anticipating the situation, the bank has proactively arranged additional staff from various departments to provide the best guidance and meet the customers' needs.

According to Ms. Huong, to comply with Decision No. 2345 of the State Bank on the implementation of safety and security solutions in online payment and bank card payment (effective from July 1, 2024), electronic transactions of individuals with a value over 10 million VND  or total payment value exceeding 20 million VND in a day need to undergo biometric authentication during the process. Therefore, the bank has concentrated its resources on investing, and the collection of biometric data from customers has been implemented by Vietcombank in June on online channels and directly at the transaction counter to reduce the overload pressure during the period from July 1. However, due to a considerable number of customers who have not actively undergone biometric testing, it is also inevitable that there is a congestion of customers at the current time.

For authentication setup, the biometric authentication process at the counter is quite easy with a few minutes. However, during the implementation process for customers to register for biometric authentication, the bank also acknowledges that customers encounter difficulties when scanning the ID card due to the mobile device not having the ability to read the integrated NFC chip on the ID card or due to the customer's inaccurate operation, not redoing the ID card. With these cases, customers need to come to the nearest transaction point to receive support and processing from bank staff.

To ensure that customers are timely updated on biometrics and uninterrupted money transfers, in addition to being directly assisted at the counter, banks also provide remote support through various forms such as phone instructions, video calls or even going to the company, business to support units to offer workers the most convenient services. In addition, banks also have routing, issuing announcements to help customers understand and feel reassured in carrying out essential transactions as before for transactions that do not require biometrics, while also advising customers to actively update biometric information without having to directly go to the bank counter at this time.

Reported by Thanh Hong – Translated by Vi Bao