Citi announced that institutional clients across selected markets in the Asia Pacific region can now use fingerprint or facial recognition to access the group’s institutional banking platform on mobile.

Institutional clients in China, India, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam can now use fingerprint or facial recognition to access their CitiDirect BE mobile app, Citi’s digital banking platform for institutions on mobile.

First piloted with select clients in the Apac region last year, the CitiDirect BE mobile app offers businesses a fast, simple and secure banking experience. Through the app, a client can authorise payments, view balances and cash positions, and manage users. Citi said that the app and biometric authentication capability will be separately introduced in additional markets in the region progressively.

Designed in partnership with clients, the biometric solution enables authentication within seconds and serves as an additional alternative for secure access to accounts. Prior to the new solution, clients would have to use MobilePASS—an app-based digital token—or physical tokens to first generate dynamic passcodes before accessing their accounts.

Moving to digital

“We continue to digitise our core offerings, incorporating a design thinking and client-centric approach to offer solutions that provide real value to institutional clients,” said Keng-Mun Lee, Asia Pacific head of channel and enterprise services, treasury and trade solutions.

“It is imperative that institutions adopt new mobile technologies to remain efficient and competitive. The CitiDirect BE mobile app, coupled with biometric authentication capability, now enables clients to manage their institutional banking needs anytime and anywhere,”

Citi reports that its institutional clients are increasingly embracing mobile and 2018 saw a 20% year-on-year increase in the number of mobile users on Citi Direct BE in Asia Pacific. Over the past two years, over US$2.5 trillion of payments processed by Citi’s treasury and trade solutions business in the region were approved using mobile devices.

CitiDirect BE is available in 95 countries worldwide, across 26 languages and over 135 currencies. The platform provides a single point of access for institutional clients to Citi’s full range of global cash, trade, liquidity and investment services.