KUALA LUMPUR (July 13): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) has introduced a new service that allows customers to access their accounts and check their balances using fingerprints on their mobile devices for authentication.

Dubbed "Quick Touch", the biometric authentication service is available on iOS devices that support biometric capability such as the iPhone 5S, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3. The facility is also available on the latest Apple watch that enables M2U mobile application from Apple Store.

In a statement today, Maybank said the new service, the first of its kind in Malaysia, is part of the group’s strategy to strengthen its offering in the digital space and meet the demands from customers for increasing convenience and transaction speed.  

"The new biometric authentication speeds up access to accounts by some 70% faster than the traditional mode of keying in the conventional 6-digit personal identification number (PIN)," it added.

Maybank head of community financial services for Malaysia Hamirullah Boorhan noted that on average, more than 500,000 balance inquiries are performed monthly and this would require customers to key in their PIN each time they need to access their account.

“Given this large proportion, we felt it was critical to enhance our customer experience by offering our users speedier access to their accounts,” he said.

“To this end, we have invested in one of the latest innovations for mobile devices, namely biometric technology, to offer them this added convenience,” Hamirullah added.

To date, the number of active users who use the full Maybank2u App exceeds 2 million. Maybank2u has over 7.8 million registered users who access the banking portal via personal computers and mobile devices.