DCB bank now lets you open account with iris-scan

MUMBAI, INDIA: DCB Bank has introduced eye scanning technology to open new accounts.

This novel biometric authentication does away with submission and verification of KYC documents, and sets a new benchmark in digital identification.

The bank ran a pilot programme at around 10 branches in rural or semi-urban branches over the past three weeks, processing about 200 accounts, including opening of 100 fresh accounts.

DCB will gradually roll out the feature to all of its nearly 250 branches across the country within the next six months.

To open an account, a customer only has to share their Aadhaar number, and using an iris scan-enabled phablet the bank will scan their iris. The bank representative will point the camera directly at the person's eyes for about three to five seconds, and the Aadhaar details are retrieved from the Aadhaar database. Immediately they can see if the photograph matches with the customer, and address etc, which means that eKYC is done on the spot.

The new bank accounts opened by DCB using iris scans during the pilot were pre-opened, which means once eKYC is done using the iris scan, the bank only takes about a day to map the customer's details to a particular account. Existing customers can also update their Aadhaar number using the iris scan.

“Currently, we have trained 230 people in using the iris scan system on the devices, which will be covering roughly about 112 branches in the coming few days,“ said Narendranath Mishra, Agri & inclusive Banking head at DCB Bank.

DCB Bank also operates nearly 70 Aadhaar-based ATMs in the country, which it had launched last year in June in Bengaluru.

Murali M Natrajan, DCB Bank CEO said, "Many customers complain about not receiving the debit cards or PIN. We already have an ATM which does not require debit card or PIN, and can operate with only the person's Aadhaar number. In addition to fingerprint, you can also use iris scan to authenticate a person with Aadhaar."