More than 2 million Česká Spořitelna (member of ERSTE group) customers rely on electronic banking under the George brand every month, with over 1.6 million of them actively using the George key security application for authorizing payment transactions, electronic signatures, and many other operations. Moreover, this offer is also available for business customers, which is a very convenient and useful solution. Computer experts in cryptography and online security from the Czech company Monet+ helped develop this application for the largest Czech bank.
The current solution is the result of years of work. The development of Monet+’s first mobile keys dates back to 2012. The development of Česká spořitelna’s George key itself was launched by both companies in 2015. Thanks to the intensive cooperation and innovative procedures of both companies, this tool, now widely used by most banks, has been simplified to the maximum extent possible to suit not only the banking sector but also companies outside it.
“Ensuring high security and at the same time, user-friendliness together with the availability of the application’s services are the main criteria for its development and innovation. The result is an easy-to-use mobile key application. Combined with high penetration among users, it is the optimal tool for electronic identity verification or expressing customers’ wills. By leveraging their features through standardized protocols, it opens up new forms of digital customer servicing without additional operational costs” – says Milan Hrdlička, Business Development Manager at Monet+.
Of course, the entire digital banking system is fully compliant with current legislation, which also places high demands on it and protects customers and their money. In 2019, amended legislation defined new requirements for the security of banks’ digital channels. The most important one was the requirement for so-called strong customer authentication, where the most commonly used form of SMS authorization became insufficient. Mobile Key is responding to this requirement by using modern authentication methods, enabling two-factor payment authorization simply and securely with a custom code or biometric methods. Customers do not need to rewrite any confirmation codes sent by SMS to their mobile phone when paying online, for example.
“We have been able to confirm all card payments online using the George key app since the end of last year. Today, more than 80% of our clients use the mobile key for payment confirmation” – says Jan Dachovský, payment solutions expert at Česká Spořitelna.
Česká spořitelna’s modern mobile key, the George key, retains all important aspects for secure electronic communication between the customer and the bank. It emphasizes a high degree of security but also brings a high degree of usability and simplicity in everyday use. Wherever it is not necessary, it does not burden the customer with an additional username and password input.
The long-term cooperation between the two companies has enabled them to implement innovative technologies and develop solutions for building modern and user-friendly online services. The easy integration of security methods into various applications, new security methods, and overall simplification of customer servicing enables customer onboarding and provision of banking identities to third parties. This opens up new possibilities for the bank in the way it serves customers and new business opportunities.
In addition to login and financial transactions, other important innovations include remote handling of so-called non-financial transaction services. Every month, the bank’s customers authorize over 220,000 changes in personal data, passwords, PINs, and activation of new services or products directly in the bank’s digital channels, without the need to visit a branch. Even in this indicator, the use of the mobile application already prevails over the web interface.
“I see great potential in remote service operations and I expect the volume of such operations to grow steeply. After all, the events of recent months related to quarantine measures have proven that their availability in online channels is not only beneficial but also necessary for both parties. Customers do not have to invest their time in changing their banking services and the bank saves on costs associated with the operation of the branch network” – adds Milan Hrdlička from Monet+.
The role of the mobile key in Česká Spořitelna:
- Identity holder in online services;
- Lower prices for customer verification traffic;
- High security in a diverse world of mobile devices increased user comfort;
- Innovation of existing customer service methods addresses regulatory requirements and compliance digitization of services and savings in the branch network linking online services.
Both companies see the future of a trusted and user-friendly mobile key in the bank’s ability to open up to third-party applications, leverage opportunities and models of the sharing economy, logistics, and open new customer service channels, as well as respond flexibly to a dynamically changing world accelerated by pandemics.
About Monet+
Monet+ is a Czech market leader for digital identity, authentication, and electronic payments. Their online solutions are used by banks, technology providers, corporations as well as government and public sector institutions within the EU.
They help their customers manage and protect their customers’ digital identities. They develop a modular solution that covers the entire lifecycle, from onboarding, through routine operations to dealing with non-standard situations. Their customers appreciate the high professionalism of the team, the robustness of the solution, its high level of security, modularity, and user comfort.
Monet+ secures hundreds of thousands of online transactions every day, and their modular solution for two-factor authentication is relied on by over 5.5 million users of leading Czech banks, including Česká spořitelna a.s., ČSOB a.s. and Air Bank a.s.
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