mtoken solution for gorenjska banka
As early as March 2016, Gorenjska banka was the first bank in Slovenia to offer a new way of secure authentication of online purchases. They introduced the GBToken, a mobile application that makes a unique personal number for a safe online purchase, with the help of a smartphone.
The GBToken was developed by Mercury Processing Services International, as a smartphone-based application that enables authentication of the customer’s identity by the bank, either during online shopping in a 3D secure environment or to gain access to bank’s secure services like mobile or Internet banking.
After successful implementation of the GBToken, Mercury Processing Services International is in the final stage of developing the mToken SDK, another useful authentication function for Gorenjska banka.
The mToken SDK provides a set of APIs that enable clients to develop applications which provide a secure and straightforward way for end-customer authentication in a variety of integrating systems and applications. In other words, the mToken SDK is enabling Gorenjska banka to have integrated authentication functionality inside their mobile banking application.
The Gorenjska banka is soon planning to launch the mToken SDK.
INTERVIEW: PETER KAVČIč
We talked
to Peter Kavčič, Deputy Director and Head of Development from Gorenjska banka, who let us in on how the launch of the GBToken
went, why it is important for Gorenjska banka and their clients to provide the mToken
SDK, and what are their future plans regarding innovations and
technology-enabled online banking.
How do these two products – the GBToken and the mToken SDK - fit into
your business strategy?
Ever since
we implemented the MasterCard Secure Code in Gorenjska banka, we used one-time
password generators. Over the years, the use of physical devices has become
inconvenient for the user, so we kept observing what our competitors did – they
found a simpler solution for the MasterCard Secure Code by using static
passwords. Of course, we did not like the static password solution because it
was in practice less secure for purchases. It is no wonder we were very pleased
when the Activa system offered us a mobile app we named GBToken, which replaced
our physical generators of one-time passwords.
As this solution
worked well for the users, we wanted to use the same solution to authenticate
users at the time of accessing the Link Online Bank. In the Link Online Bank,
we presently cover our identification needs by using digital certificates.
Although this technology is secure and reliable, it is not quite suitable for use in mobile devices. We are therefore preparing to allow our customers to be authenticated by both the mobile and the online bank by using the GBToken app or, in case of a mobile bank, by full integration of the mToken SDK in our mobile bank.
How did
your customers embrace GBToken? Do you have any feedback from them?
The use of
the GBToken has been very well accepted among our customers as it allowed them
to make online purchases more easily by using Gorenjska banka’s MasterCard.
In which way will the mToken SDK reinforce the security of your online
transactions in Gorenjska banka?
By using
the mToken SDK, we will primarily simplify our customers’ banking business and
will also expand the mobile bank functionality thanks to using new OTP
technology.
Gorenjska banka was the first Slovenian bank which offered its customers
Mercury Processing Services International’s mToken solution. Are you as
technologically advanced and innovative with other payments solutions?
In Gorenjska
banka, we endeavor not to fall behind our market competitors and we sometimes even manage
to get ahead of them. Also, in cooperation with another bank, Gorenjska banka
was the first to offer the market contactless Activa Maestro and Activa MasterCard
cards.
What are
your further steps in technology-enabled online banking?
We aim to
continue to provide our customers with technologically advanced services, but
first of all ensure that the use of all such solutions is as user-friendly as
possible and available to as many users as possible. We would also like to use
contactless NFC technology to allow our customers to pay using virtualized
payment cards as soon as possible. In other words, ensure that our customers no
longer need to carry their phones and wallets with them – only a phone will
suffice to make payments at any merchant equipped with contactless NFC
technology.