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ICONLOOP, a blockchain-focused company headquartered in Seoul, has announced that it has integrated its blockchain technology with SBI Savings Bank’s personal authentication service.
Based in South Korea, SBI Savings Bank is majority-owned by Japanese financial services giant SBI Group. It has been working with ICONLOOP since November of 2018 to certify electronic documents, as well as to provide blockchain-based authentication services.
According to the official release, ‘SBI Simple Authentication’ is the first blockchain-based authentication service that was launched in the Korean savings bank industry and is now open to public.
Users would now be able to authenticate blockchain-based personal identification number (PIN) or fingerprints through ‘SBI Simple Authentication’ using the bank’s mobile app. The new service will allow users to log in and initiate transfers by using just a PIN or fingerprint without a public certificate, security card, or one-time password (OTP).
“The new service based on ICONLOOP’s blockchain technology is a great opportunity to bolster our competitiveness in financial services. By providing safer and more convenient services, SBI Savings Bank expects to offer new benefits to customers and create new market opportunities,” Eunhwa Lee, Director of the Fintech task force at SBI Savings Bank, said.
To ensure that users are comfortable using the new authentication service without an understanding of blockchain technology, the new service offers the same user experience (UX) as the existing PIN or fingerprint authentication system, the release said.
By applying private and public key structure, the service establishes a safe user authentication process which is also compatible with existing certificate standards. It also follows the FIDO standards to support biometric authentication, ICONLOOP said.
The companies believe that the blockchain-based service will make it impossible to falsify information and misuse the certificates, while enhancing customer satisfaction by removing the need to install separate security plug-ins. It could also lead to significant cost savings by gradually replacing the areas where public certificates are currently used.
“Blockchain-based ‘SBI Simple Authentication’ has the opportunity to be a leading solution in financial markets to enhance both convenience and safety by applying blockchain to services that are actually being used,” Jonghyup Kim, CEO of ICONLOOP, said.
In addition to the authentication service, SBI Savings Bank is also rolling out a blockchain-based document certification system which will confirm that the files are not damaged or tampered with when browsed or downloaded.
ICONLOOP provides all technical support for the ICON blockchain project. It was selected as an operator of Seoul’s standard blockchain platform for the ‘Seoul Blockchain Demonstration Project’ and the ‘Seoul blockchain-based ISP (Information Strategy Planning) Project,’ which is commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
In February 2019, ICONLOOP announced that the Seoul Metropolitan Government issued mobile letters of appointment to its Blockchain Governance Team using its public blockchain.
