Yet overseas biometric implementation has moved beyond niche markets and is seeing broader, nationwide adoption strategies in areas like South America which is expected to mature faster than the worldwide market numbers.  “IBG estimates that the US$1.6 billion global biometric market will grow to US$5.3 billion by 2010, while South American revenues will grow at a greater rate from US$137 million to US$516 million,” said Brian Wong, Senior Consultant, International Biometric Group.  We see the similar adoption growth in other nations across the world (Figure 2).

The Emergence of Latin America

Already 25% of the Chilean population has registered their fingerprints and the numbers are growing.  Chile continues to see solutions be implemented to prevent fraud, identity impersonation and card cloning.  Biometric solutions also provide for easy access to medical records and electronic payments without the need of a credit or identification card.  One example of how biometrics has been implemented is Digital Persona’s work with its partner I-Med.

I-Med is a SONDA-group subsidiary focused on delivering mass electronic transaction services.  With a great deal of experience in biometric certification, I-Med optimizes transactional processes by developing services based on the use of state-of-the-art technologies, including: biometric support for check verification, credit card payment certification, customer loyalty programs for the retailers, biometric certification for insurance sales at self-service terminals, biometric certification for pension payments, among others.

Digital Persona powers I-Med’s Autentia identification solution for millions of its users in Chile.  This solution provides fingerprint-based biometric identification services for secure financial and healthcare transactions in Chile and currently handles a database of over 4 million Chilean fingerprints.  At the present time, I-Med’s Autentia biometric identification solution handles more than 1.1 million verifications per month through certification locations at major healthcare providers and point-of-sale sites throughout Chile.  Nearly 100,000 new people join I-Med’s database per month.  To handle the authentication process, I-Med has deployed over 2,800 Digital Persona fingerprint readers. 

Another area of growth Digital Persona can speak to by example is Mexico, where Digital Persona has deployed the world’s largest biometric banking application for Grupo Elektra. 

Grupo Elektra, a leading Latin American specialty retailer, consumer finance and banking services company relies on biometrics to assist subsidiary Banco Azteca’s customers, most of whom do not have drivers’s licenses or secure forms of identification.  Biometrics, specifically fingerprint based authentication, has enabled over eight million Banco Azteca customers to open accounts for the first time and in a secure manner such that no other person can steal their identity.  Moreover, the new offering’s popularity shows no sign of abating: registration is currently increasing at a rate of approximately 10,000 users each day and processes an average of 200,000 fingerprint matches daily across Banco Azteca’s 1,440 branch locations in Latin America. 

The implementation of biometrics technology now enables 75 percent of Banco Azteca customers to establish and maintain savings and credit accounts for the first time, and dramatically increases the bank’s potential customer base.  It affords Banco Azteca customers secure and convenient account access and eliminates account holder’ need for ID cards that can be easily falsified, lost or stolen.  A biometrics solution enables Banco Azteca to authenticate large numbers of users, accurately and quickly.  It also eased the authentication of even the most poor quality fingerprint images.  All of these factors dramatically increased Banco Azteca’s and Grupo Electra’s customer base while providing a reliable and needed service to the community.  In addition, since Grupo Elektra is a leading Latin American specialty retailer, payment methods have been set in place tying in Banco Azteca customer account and authentication information to retail outlets making for secure payment transactions.

GROWING GLOBAL RELIANCE ON BIOMETRICS

U.S. adoption of biometrics, although strong, has been propelled mostly through consumer fear, government and industry compliance and regulation in niche markets.  As compliance and regulatory needs move the U.S. to inevitable adoption of biometrics, it is a slower approach.  This is proven by IBG’s market research; the average North American growth over the next 5 years is US$311 million compared to the rest of the world’s average of US$395 million (Figure 2).  Potentially the U.S. will fall behind international biometrics adoption by 2010, a broader market approach due primarily to forward thinking. 

Latin America, specifically Chileans have benefited from implementation on a national level.  Although the overall theme of authentication is the same for all implementations of biometrics, Chile has found a way to allocate identification services for secure financial and healthcare transactions on a larger scale.  Mexico based Grupo Elektra has done something similar and understands the benefit to building biometrics into a financial network.  Biometrics allows Latin America to flourish by making access to money, payment and information simpler, safer and more secure.

Vance Bjorn is CTO and Co-founder of Digital Persona, Inc. (www.digitalpersona.com), a leading provider of fingerprint-based authentication solutions.

For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.

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