The concern that somebody might steal your bankcard and strip your hard-earned money from it is a consistent worry for many people. Banks are also worried about handing cash out to the wrong people.
There are many ways in which banks can verify people's identities, and they develop new methods all the time. These methods all boil down to the same idea: ensuring that the person removing the money is the person who holds the account.
One company has devised a system that can do this by using three-factor authentication. The ValidSoft system works like this. Someone goes online to take money out of their account and transfer it somewhere else. They provide their name and account number, and perhaps some other detail, in order to access the point at which funds are transferred. Now, the ValidSoft system clicks in and the customer gets a phone call from the bank, telling them the value of the transaction and asking if it is authorised. The user then answers "yes" or "no".
The phone call and the automated voice become another security check, as only the bank's own system can do this.
"The phone call could be from the other side of the world," said ValidSoft's head of business development, John Petersen. "The speed is the same and the transaction remains on hold until that authorisation."
The picture shows a transaction in progress. The highlighted box at the centre shows the bank being informed of the amount being asked for. The bank is waiting for approval.
The trick is to be able to carry out the transaction very quickly while the customer is waiting to have it approved. If the customer has to wait for a minute longer than needed, they may hit "cancel" and go to another bank. "The speed is the secret," said Petersen.
