5,954,529 Mexican pensioners were registered in Mexico in 2020. All of them, in order to collect their pensions, needed to travel twice a year from their homes to a bank branch, with all the material and health costs that this entails. Since June 2021, thanks to BBVA Mexico and Veridas, more than 147,000 people have been able to carry out this process from the comfort of their homes. Read on and find out how this has been possible.
The 'proof of life' process in Mexico
The global pandemic of 2020 brought to light even more of the well-known digital divide that alienates the elderly from today’s technological society.
In Mexico, the process of collecting pensions requires the elderly to travel to a bank branch twice a year. In COVID-19 times, this situation became especially dangerous for their health.
It was then that BBVA turned to Veridas, a technology partner since 2017, to try to find a solution that would improve the service to its elderly customers while protecting their health and safety.
With the clear conviction that biometrics is capable of providing a better user experience while raising security levels, the solution chosen was voice biometric authentication.
Closing the digital divide with biometrics
Veridas’ voice biometrics solution consists of registering a voiceprint in person at the branch. In this way, seniors are assisted by bank staff and in just 5 seconds are registered for future interactions.
Once the registration is done, which is only required once, pensioners receive a phone call every 6 months where it is enough to hear them speak for 3 seconds for the system to identify them correctly.
In addition, thanks to its text and language independence features, the bank’s customers can express themselves freely and in any language or dialect, closing a cultural gap that is very present in Mexico, where there is a great diversity of languages.
The authentication process using voice biometrics is especially friendly for the elderly as they do not even need to interact through a smartphone, but can do so naturally from their landline phone.
To avoid possible cases of fraud, the Veridas voice recognition system has an anti-spoofing system that detects pre-recorded voices and warns of possible identity theft.
“Voice biometrics is very practical and accessible, and allows people without many resources to use this technology with a landline or low-end cell phone.”
Cynthia Méndez, Director of Pension Management, says in an interview with Javier Tourón, our Marketing Director. In addition, this measure has led to substantial cost savings for the financial institution by drastically reducing the time spent on calls from its Call Center for the verification of these people.
The implementation of this system is another step in the deployment of an omnichannel strategy that allows the bank to be closer to its customers, digitally, and on all platforms.
Thousands of citizens already provide proof of life from home thanks to voice biometrics
More than 147,000 citizens have already registered in the system since June 2021 with a total of 359,000 verification processes, i.e., calls to the Call Center to attest to life.
“Our customers are happy. They are grateful that they don’t have to travel and that we make their lives easier.”
Cynthia Méndez, Director of Pension Management | BBVA Mexico
The success story in figures
An awarded project
The “Pensions Voice Biometrics” project, by the hand of Veridas voice biometrics, has achieved a position in the Top 5 of the “Most Innovative 2021“ Ranking in the Private Sector category. Recognition granted by the magazine IT Masters Mag, in its 21st edition.
Recognition granted, emphasizing that, among other existing tools on the market, Veridas solution stands out for its ease of use and its text-independent and language-independent functionalities. This greatly improves the bank’s users’ experience; more than 50,000 Mexican citizens have already registered, and the Net Promoter Score (NPS), an indicator that measures customer satisfaction and loyalty, has improved by 9 points.
The Banker
The prestigious magazine The Banker, owned by the Financial Times, has awarded the ‘Fintech Partnership’ prize at the Innovation in Digital Banking Awards to the alliance between Veridas and BBVA for using biometric technology to digitize a procedure that until now could only be carried out in person.
The Innovation in Digital Banking Awards recognizes the most innovative companies worldwide for their digital banking initiatives in multiple categories.
The jury, composed of an external panel, looks for digital initiatives demonstrating innovation, utility, and transformation. The Banker reviews entries from organizations worldwide, regardless of size; the focus is on the effectiveness and innovation of the project.
The project awarded by The Banker as the best collaboration between a bank and a fintech has received high praise from the jury: “WOW!”, “Laudable application at the time of COVID emergency”, “Very useful application in pension/benefits disbursement solutioning globally”.
Platinium Contact Center Awards
The Platinum Contact Center Awards were created 13 years ago by Contact Center Hub, a benchmark platform in the customer service and customer experience sector. They have established themselves as independent and prestigious awards that recognize, through a jury of experts, the good work of customer service in the Spanish industry.
The awards have rewarded quality customer experience and technological innovation. The gala was held at the Teatro Goya in Madrid and, as the organizers point out, served to “thank those who, with their daily work, contribute professionalism and become the spearhead of a sector in constant change”.
The prize for Best IT Project in Customer Engagement awarded to Veridas is part of the Technological Innovation category. It aims to reward the implementation of new technologies that improve customer service management methods.
Belén Aliño, Business Development Manager at Veridas, and Miguel Villaumbrales, Global Head of Digital Identity at BBVA, accepted the award.
Villaumbrales pointed out that this innovation also helps to reduce the digital divide: “Older people accept biometrics when a problem is solved for them, and we have achieved this thanks to Veridas technology”.
For her part, Belén Aliño stated that “we dream of a world in which no credentials, keys or passwords are needed to exercise our identity in both the physical and digital world; cases like this one with BBVA perfectly reflect that we can build a better, more comfortable and secure future for everyone”.
