Creating Better Friction For P2P Payments

Today’s consumers demand a fast and smooth digital experience – no surprise there. But as retail checking providers try to gain traction in the increasingly competitive P2P space, their customers say they’d welcome a little more friction in exchange for a lot more security.  

And yet, of the U.S.-based retail checking providers tracked by Curinos’ Digital Banking Analyzer that offer in-app P2P payments, only 14% request an additional authentication layer when completing payments to a new payee (see chart). And of those that do, most rely on SMS journeys that require out-of-channel passcodes. This awkward approach is frustratingly out of step with the more streamlined advances being rolled out in this hyper-competitive sector. 

It doesn’t have to be this way, given that far more advanced payment authentication capabilities exist. These include AI-enabled, voice-to-face deepfake detection in real time in which the payer verifies their voice against a selfie. Sure, it means the user has to upload an audio file, but it shows that their FI cares about protecting them from fraud. For that, they’re happy to put up with a little inconvenience.