As financial fraud continues to be a threat, South African banks are responding by moving into an era where your plastic bank card will no longer be used directly.
Instead, you will become more reliant on your cellphone as a means of payment and use your fingerprint as a secure identification tool.
FNB recently released the newest version of its app, called the FNB Banking App 5.0.
The new app features solutions such as FNB pay, fingerprint ID, secure chat, Smart inContact and 1-touch report fraud, as well as the FNB watch app.
Jacques Celliers, CEO of FNB, says the bank views the app as a gateway to the future of banking.
“The intuitive new features of [the FNB app] are a clear demonstration of how we are prioritising customer needs.
“This platform also puts us in a much better position to continue capitalising on the seamless convergence of banking and telecoms; to produce integrated solutions,” he says.
One of the key features of the new app is FNB Pay – a globally accepted contactless payment solution that allows you to make purchases by tapping your smartphone on a contactless-enabled point-of-sale terminal.
Contactless payments are becoming increasingly popular as local merchants are gradually increasing the infrastructure for contactless transactions.
FNB has already issued more than 1.5 million FNB contactless cards and if you are making purchases that cost less than R200, your bank card PIN will not be required.
Raj Makanjee, CEO of FNB Premium, explains that FNB customers with a near-field-communication-enabled Android device can download the latest version of the FNB app and start making purchases at any contactless payment terminal.
Once you download the app, you automatically receive FNB Pay, and you can link it to any of your FNB cards. –Neesa Moodley
SECURITY FEATURES:
You will receive notifications of all transactions, with full control to report fraud with one touch of the Smart inContact notification to the 24/7 FNB fraud line.
Smart inContact also replaces SMS one-time pins (OTPs). If you don’t download FNB App 5.0, you will continue to receive SMS notifications and OTPs until you download or update to the latest version of the app.
BIOMETRIC SECURITY:
You can now authenticate yourself through the use of biometrics or fingerprint identification, which is available to both Android and iPhone owners.
It uses a fingerprint sensor to verify the user before giving access to the account profile.
DIRECT CHAT:
FNB clients who qualify for premier and private banking services will also be able to use the secure chat feature on the new app to enquire about services or send instructions to their private banking support team, all done through the app after securely logging in.
SMARTWATCH:
You can download key features onto your Android or Apple smartwatch.
To promote the use of smartwatches, FNB has increased the discounts available to eBucks customers – leading to a maximum 40% discount when purchasing a smartwatch via the eBucks online shop.
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