HSBC UK’s Voice ID prevents £249 million of attempted fraud

HSBC UK’s innovative voice biometrics system, Voice ID, has prevented almost £249 million of customers’ money from falling into the hands of telephone fraudsters in the last year, with the rate of attempted fraud down 50% year-on-year, the bank announced today.

As more people turn to digital channels and telephone banking, HSBC UK has seen an increase in customers signing up to Voice ID, used within its telephone banking service to make it easier, faster and more secure and currently used by over 2.8 million active customers.

Telephone fraudsters may attempt to impersonate customers by stealing or guessing personal information to pass security checks – but they can’t replicate someone’s voice. Voice ID detects whether the voice matches that which is held on file for the customer and therefore whether the caller is genuine. Customers need to register for the service before it will be activated for their account.

Since the technology was introduced in the UK, over 43,000 fraudulent phone calls have been identified, with over £981 million worth of customers’ money protected.

Kerri-Anne Mills, Head of Contact Centre and Customer Service at HSBC UK, said: “We’ve seen unprecedented challenges as the pandemic and lockdown restrictions transformed our lives significantly and, unsurprisingly, more people have turned to online and mobile banking to take control of their finances, utilising other channels for very particular interactions.”

“Voice ID has not only made telephone banking more convenient for customers accessing their accounts, but it has also been instrumental in stopping attempts at telephone banking fraud, protecting customers’ money. Scammers are sophisticated and it’s a constant challenge to keep ahead of them but this is promising - we’ve seen a 50% drop in reported telephone banking fraud year-on-year. We are now enrolling around 14,000 customers in Voice ID each week and the technology continues to be instrumental in the fight against fraud, providing a library of fraudsters’ voice prints to cross check against new incoming calls.”

HSBC UK recently launched a new voice response system, taking more than 450k calls per week. Chat channels are also booming in popularity, with more than 105k chats per week. HSBC UK’s WebChat service allows customers to seamlessly move between mobile and online banking platforms and pick up a conversation where they left off.

HSBC UK is encouraging customers with general queries to initially contact the bank via digital chat channels for support. This helps the bank to meet the needs of more vulnerable customers at this difficult time.

To find out more about Voice ID, visit: www.hsbc.co.uk/ways-to-bank/phone-banking/

Media enquiries to:

Penny Edwards, HSBC UK | penny.f.edwards@hsbc.com | 07920419987

Email: UKPressOffice@hsbc.co.uk

For the latest news and updates, visit the HSBC UK newsroom:
https://www.about.hsbc.co.uk/news-and-media

HSBC UK’s Voice ID prevents £249 million of attempted fraud (2-pages PDF 382KB)