Secutech Signs Contract with Korea Federation of Savings Banks to Introduce 'Bio Electronic Signature'

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunseok Yoo] Secuzen, a fintech security technology company specializing in bio electronic signature services under the ITCEN Group, announced on the 26th that it has signed a contract with the Korea Federation of Savings Banks to introduce ‘Bio Electronic Signature (DocuTrustⅢ)’ for providing electronic signatures for savings bank ODS (Out Door Sales) at the level of public certificates.

The Korea Federation of Savings Banks plans to enhance the functionality of its visiting financial service called 'Tablet Branch' starting next year. Due to the decrease in customers visiting branches amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they plan to conduct both untact services and face-to-face sales using tablet PCs through the ‘Tablet Branch’.

A representative from the Korea Federation of Savings Banks said, “This contract was signed to prevent potential complaints that may arise during financial transactions such as PF loans and real estate mortgage loans in face-to-face sales outside branches,” adding, “We plan to strengthen the untact service area by introducing bio electronic signature technology that can prevent repudiation of transactions at the level of existing public certificates.”

In the case of handwritten electronic signatures, it is difficult to verify whether the signer actually signed during complaints, so there are no countermeasures against forgery. Public electronic signatures are also difficult to apply to Tablet Branch because the parties involved do not carry public certificates, making them unusable in face-to-face environments.

The ‘Bio Electronic Signature’ technology is a next-generation electronic signature technology that generates and verifies electronic signatures by attaching or logically combining bio information to electronic documents according to Article 2, Clause 2 of the Electronic Signature Act. After distributed processing by service providers such as savings banks and third-party trusted institutions, it is possible to verify the signer’s identity and check for tampering of electronic documents through the third-party trusted institution in case of emergency. This technology has been introduced and applied in the insurance industry as an electronic signature technology for real estate electronic contracts by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and for insured consent under Article 731 of the Commercial Act.

Secuzen’s bio electronic signature service provides electronic signatures using only bio information without certificates. When using bio information for financial transactions, it follows the ‘Bio Information Distributed Management Financial Standard’ established by the Bank of Korea in 2016 for the safe processing and management of bio information, and has secured security and reliability through the distributed management center established by the Korea Financial Telecommunications & Clearings Institute.

Park Won-kyu, CEO of Secuzen, said, “We plan to provide new services in response to changes in the financial sector following the abolition of public certificates at the end of the year,” adding, “This contract has significant meaning as it has laid the foundation to present and lead a new business model in the face-to-face electronic financial services market.”