Banks Brace for iPhone 8 Impact on Mobile Banking

The notion that you could just pull out your phone, photograph a check, and consider it deposited is just one of the big new advances coming out of the mobile banking sector in recent months. That’s a revolution that’s only going to keep going, and with the iPhone 8, along with the projected iPhone X, set to use facial recognition technology, among other things, some in the banking field are looking for this device to shake up the mobile banking concept once again.

Granted, the device has only just seen daylight, but already, banks are starting to plan for this new release and work accordingly. That’s a bit of a change from banks’ previous responses that looked a lot more like “wait and see” than “let’s actually do something about this”. Bankers are keeping plans close to the vest, reports suggest, but are likely to turn those plans into action quickly following the iPhone 8’s formal launch.

Word from Wells Fargo, for example, suggests that it’s been actively exploring biometric account security measures, with an eye toward taking advantage of the iPhone 8’s inherent features on that front. Iris scans are said to be a part of the action for corporate customers, and voiceprint authentication is in play for some consumer banking operations.

Some, however, are finding the field a bit more restrained. Javelin Strategy and Research’s Jacob Jegher noted “New forms of authentication are interesting, but let’s recall that banks have already implemented forms of authentication and already have those mechanisms in place.”

Yes, banks do have some of these forms of authentication in place and running, but not all. So with the iPhone 8 and the like coming into play, banks will find putting these tools in operation on a wider scale a safer bet. Before Apple’s new line and the likely Android versions to follow, biometric security was a gee-whiz nice-to-have, not a widely-used, downright-necessary technology. So as the platforms are better able to accommodate, so too must banks step up rollouts to accommodate the growing numbers of platforms that can handle it.

Technology changes require attitude changes to go with them. The banking industry here is no exception, and changes are necessary to keep everyone better in the game.