Goode Intelligence’s latest research identifies that the rapid adoption of biometrics on mobile and wearable devices will deliver frictionless authentication and identity verification services across the banking industry. The consultancy forecasts that by 2020, there will be more than 620 million mobile banking app downloads that support biometrics for customer authentication and transaction verification.

GlobalPlatform develops specifications for the identity and payments markets and the specifications include a focus on the Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). The association has announced the launch of a TEE Security Evaluation Secretariat. Regarding ID’s Gina Jordan spoke with GlobalPlatform Technical Director Gil Bernabeu about the new secretariat and the role of the TEE with identity.

NTT DOCOMO is implementing the Qualcomm Snapdragon Sense ID biometrics platform and Nok Nok Labs S3 Authentication Suite to deliver strong authentication to the mobile carrier’s customers and devices.

Mountain America Credit Union announced the beta release of a biometric mobile banking login feature; The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is working with Accenture to deliver a biometric technology system for registering and verifying the identities of displaced persons around the world.

For years authentication has been a thorny issue for banks and financial institutions, particularly in the world of mobile services. While some may tout scary, creepy authentication technologies there are plenty of options that will make mobile identification simple and secure.

Tablets and handsets have become the go to devices for employee use, replacing desktop and laptop computers. Using the mobile device as an identity token is the dream for enterprises that may soon be realized. As more devices deploy biometrics, use near field communication and Bluetooth low energy, securing devices and using them as tokens is becoming a reality. Organizations are also working on standards that will make the ubiquitous mobile the token everyone owns.

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida deployed a solution that enables officers to capture and search fingerprints against state and national FBI databases from any location; Gemalto is providing multi-factor authentication to MOHELA, one of the largest student loan servicers in the U.S.; Authentify announced its xFA SecureCallCenter to help financial institutions fight fraud; ZTE announced that a flagship device will be launched with a eye-based biometric solution from EyeVerify; IDenticard announced the release of UBand Prox.

Fujitsu unveiled a prototype iris reader for smartphones and tablets. The systems uses LEDs to capture the iris and authenticate to devices by just looking at the screen.

HID Global is piloting Mobile Access on both sides of the world, enabling virtually any smartphone to function as a physical access control credential using either near field communication or Bluetooth low energy.

Mobile apps provide an opportunity for financial service providers to create a foundation for security and convenience. To capitalize on this, institutions need to ensure that they are making the most of the device capabilities by enabling strong, cryptographic, device-based authentication. The goal, however, is to hide the security complexity from the user to both increase compliance and eliminate authentication hassles.