TIAA Rolls Out Voice Authentication Technology

TIAA, the financial services provider, announced this week the launch of its new voice biometric authentication technology, which it said will improve customer experience, particularly when speaking to a customer service representative.

In a press release, TIAA said customers can now create a so-called “voiceprint” to securely identify themselves when they speak to a customer representative via phone. The “voiceprint” can also be used to transfer money or check account balances. With the new digital technology, customers don’t have to remember a password, PIN or account number, something that will likely be welcomed by customers around the country.

“We continuously strive to provide a better overall customer experience,” said Scott Blandford, executive vice president and chief digital officer at TIAA, in the press release. “The vocal password capability is the latest example of how TIAA is leveraging game-changing technology to transform the way our customers manage their finances and, ultimately, make it easier than ever to effectively prepare for retirement.”

According to the company, when customers enroll in the new feature, the system will capture the person’s unique voiceprint. By using their secure vocal password, customers will then be able to skip many of the authentication steps in place today. The system is equipped to detect and safeguard against voice recordings, the financial services company said.

TIAA is a big player starting to utilize voice recognition, but it’s not the only company eyeing this technology. SayPay is a voice recognition and biometric authentication solutions provider for financial transactions that use its tech and its one-time cryptotoken to process transactions via a mobile app. CEO Steven Hoffman said in a recent interview with PYMNTS that “SayPay Code” is the one-time password that consumers of its authentication technology must establish in order to “bind” the details of financial transactions with the user in order for a secure mobile transaction to be made. SayPay Payments, available as an in-house deployment or a cloud-based service, doesn’t send financial data to the merchant, which means account and card numbers remain out of reach of merchant point-of-sale systems. “I’d like to think of us more as an authentication company; biometrics plays a major role in what we do,” Hoffman explained.