Identity fraud was a key source of financial loss in the banking sector.

Nigeria’s Wema Bank is adopting facial recognition technology to shield customers from rampant identity fraud.

This is through a partnership with Daon, the international digital identity trust company.

Wema has adopted the Daon xProof (xAuth/xFace) and Daon IdentityX platforms to provide digital identity verification and authentication on its banking app.

With the addition of xAuth/xFace to the overall solution, customers of Wema Bank are set to be able to access everyday banking transactions across a range of engagement channels as easily as taking a selfie.

Clive Bourke, Daon president for Europe, Middle East and Africa as well as the Asia-Pacific region, said identity fraud was a key source of financial loss in the banking sector, making defending against it critical for new banks establishing operations.

“Implementing Daon’s suite of identity verification and authentication solutions in the Wema Bank app will provide their customers with a more efficient and reliable user experience, all while increasing the security of their data,” he assured.

Founded in 1945, Wema Bank rates itself as one of Nigeria’s most resilient and innovative banks. In 2017, Wema launched Africa's first fully digital bank, ALAT.

Olusegun Adeniyi, chief digital officer at Wema, said integrating their digital banking app with the Daon IdentityX platform would help the bank to provide customers with seamless access to a wider portfolio of financial services.

“Our customers should feel safe and comfortable with secure account setup, opening doors to better savings, transfers, and rewards that our digital bank has to offer,” Adenity said.