Santander is launching the UK’s first telephone banking service to be verified with a combination of voice biometric security and phone ID.

The telephone banking service, which is being rolled out in waves to Santander customers, will authenticate customers using a unique biometric marker.

The bank said the move was aimed at making phone identification simpler and more secure for the several million customers that use telephone banking services every year.

The combination of Phone ID and Voice ID mean that customers will no longer be required to key in any personal ID or security numbers when completing telephone authentication.

Instead, they will be able to verify their identity by calling from a phone number that is uniquely registered to them, such as a mobile number. Customers will then be asked to repeat a short phrase several times during an initial enrolment process to create their unique ‘voice print’, much like a fingerprint.

Santander said the service uses the latest technology to analyse over 100 characteristics of the human voice - more than can be heard by the human ear. The technology is sophisticated enough that it can detect a recording of someone’s voice being played over the telephone in order to detect fraud.

Reza Attar-Zadeh, head of customer interactions at Santander UK, said: “Our innovative combination of Phone ID and Voice ID gives our customers an incredibly simple and seamless way to authenticate themselves when calling us - removing the need to remember and key in numbers while ensuring the highest standards of security.

“The human voice contains over 100 voice characteristics we can use to ensure that a caller is who they say they are, further protecting our customers’ accounts from fraudsters.”

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