BBVA Launches Authentication by Selfie in Spain

While some banks allow existing customers to pay by selfie, BBVA is using them to get new customers.

The Spanish bank has launched a new "online onboarding" feature, which allow customers in Spain to open an account on a mobile device and verify their identity via a photo snapped from their mobile device, it announced Thursday.

To start the process, the bank said, customers provide their personal information into the BBVA mobile app. The service then asks for an image of a photo ID along with a selfie. The bank can check to see that both images coincide through an "innovative face recognition process," it said in a press release. In the last step, a BBVA representative verifies the new customer's identity through a video call.

"Starting today you can open an account at BBVA more easily and quickly," said Cristina de Parias, head of BBVA Spain, in the release. "We know our customers value their time and like to do everything through their cell phones."

BBVA's announcement is the latest in bank projects experimenting with biometrics for authentication purposes, such as USAA deploying face and voice recognition for customers to log in to its mobile app and Citi rolling out a voice authentication project for customers calling into a call center.