OneVault, the South African remote biometric authentication specialist has formalized its partnership with speech processing and authentication technology provider Lumenvox to create a partner friendly ecosystem to address growing demand for voice biometrics-based authentication and fraud loss prevention. OneVault will continue to market and support existing solutions that incorporate voice biometric-based authentication resources from Nuance and NICE. The new partnership will offer a solution set that leverages and expands on experience gained in support of both active and passive customer authentication for financial services providers and telephone companies with large contact center operations.

Jointly, OneVault and Lumenvox offer voice processing, identity management, active and passive voice authentication and fraud detection. The initial geographic scope of the combined venture is South Africa and a select group of African nations. One of the use cases highlighted by company executives is an authentication and fraud prevention initiative carried out by the South African Fraud Prevention Service (SAFPS). It is a non-profit organization whose membership includes both large and small banks, financial services companies telephone carriers, information brokerage, healthcare and security providers, along with the South African Department of Home Affairs.

SAFPS enables its members to fight fraud by sharing a database that serves as a central reference of biometric characteristics, like voice prints or facial characteristics. Its charter is to provide a means to prevent identity theft and impersonation, thus “reduce the perception of South Africa as a crime-ridden nation and ensure it is seen as an investment-friendly destination.”

Opus Research believes that the rest of the world will have much to learn from SAFPS’s experience. OneVault shares that belief and has formed a joint venture with SAFPS to bring to market a mobile app called Secure Citizen to provide a simple way for individuals to register and enroll their biometrics (meaning voice prints and selfies) which are then used by participating financial institutions when an individual applies for credit. Enrollment in the system has been relatively high because individuals recognize that enrollment is a precondition for applying for opening a new account at a bank or phone company. This sort of shared “white list” should be of great interest to financial services companies around the world and it should be noted that a few SAFPS members have a global footprint.

Establishing a new Voice Biometrics Ecosystem

To its users, Secure Citizen is perceived as a downloadable app but it is, more accurately, the user interface to a platform that supports biometric enrollment and ID Management. Contactable is an important participant in the ecosystem that makes the service possible. It enables individuals to take a selfie, scan passports or other personal documents and upload these documents to a database. In the case of Secure Citizen Contactable supports future applications for credit. In a more broadly defined use case, this is the very essence of electronic KYC (Know Your Customer), or proof of identity programs that are essential for strong fraud prevention strategies as well as compliance.

This purpose-driven, multivendor platforms is made possible by the flexible approach to pricing that Lumenvox brings to the OneVault/Lumenvox partnership. It can be consumption-based and involves relatively small initial costs. As the integration of Contactable’s ID management capabilities indicates, the approach is also partner-friendly. Its intent is to create a new ecosystem of solutions providers that can bring voice biometrics into a broad set of use cases.

Categories: Intelligent Authentication