Keyless Recognized as Luminary in 2024 Prism Project Report on Biometric Digital Identity for Financial Services

“Particularly well-known for its privacy-preserving technology, Keyless is a biometric identity platform pioneer.”

We are thrilled to announce that Keyless has been highlighted as a Luminary in decentralized biometric solutions in the 2024 Biometric Digital Identity Financial Services Prism Report, published by Acuity Market Intelligence under The Prism Project. This recognition underscores our growing role in advancing the field of biometric authentication within the financial services sector.

The Decentralized Model and ZKB Technology

Keyless is celebrated for its pioneering privacy-preserving technology within the financial services industry. Part of the emerging decentralized authentication category of biometrics (Gartner, 2023), our proprietary Zero-Knowledge Biometrics™ (ZKB) technology is at the core of our solutions, ensuring that no biometric data is stored anywhere - neither on the device or in the cloud - a unique achievement. This approach not only enhances user privacy but also ensures compliance with stringent regulations such as GDPR and PSD2.

Our approach to the decentralized model involves using a groundbreaking technique known as secure Multi-Party Computation (sMPC) which combines the benefits of the two existing methods - local and centralized biometrics. This method processes biometric data on the device, similar to local biometrics, but then transforms and stores it in the cloud, not as biometric data but in a format that doesn’t legally constitute ‘biometric’ data. This ensures that neither Keyless nor any cloud provider can access or decrypt the actual biometric data, combining privacy with cloud scalability and accessibility.

“The company stands out in the financial services sector with its patented Zero-Knowledge Biometrics technology, which ensures that no biometric data is stored either on a given device or in the cloud.”

Case Study: Transforming Financial Services

The report highlights a case study in which Keyless has helped a national bank managing billions in assets and serving hundreds of thousands of customers address the inefficiencies and security risks associated with traditional SMS OTPs and customer support.

By implementing our biometric technology, the bank was able to significantly reduce its dependency on call center support through self-service biometric account recovery features, allowing users to independently recover their accounts with just a glance. Additionally, the improved user experience led to minimized disruptions and heightened transaction success rates, ultimately boosting customer satisfaction.

For high-risk transactions, the bank employed step-up authentication using facial biometrics, which not only eliminated the reliance on SMS OTPs but also significantly enhanced security. This shift resulted in a substantial decrease in annual password and account management costs, heightened protection against phishing and SIM swapping attacks, and notably, a decrease in account takeover fraud. 

Recognition by The Prism Project

Following on from our feature in their inaugural Biometric Identity Prism report in 2023, Acuity Market Intelligence’s acknowledgement in their latest Prism Project report highlights our commitment to privacy-centered biometrics that do not compromise on the user experience. We are always striving to push the boundaries of industry, driving forward the implementation of the most innovative technologies for the financial services sector.

Read the 2024 report.