Hong Kong research body develops facial and Chinese character recognition to help banking sector
Applied Science and Technology Research Institute hopes its breakthroughs can help enhance customer service and convert handwritten characters into a digital format
A government-funded research body in Hong Kong is moving forward with its development of facial and Chinese character recognition, hoping the two could soon be deployed in the city’s banking sector to improve cybersecurity and efficiency.
WATCH: The new facial recognition system in action
Explaining the latest research highlights of the Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI) at the Hong Kong Science Park on Thursday, institute chief executive Dr Franklin Tong Fuk-kay said the body had been working on improving existing facial recognition technology, which can identify a person based on his or her facial features.
“The moment you enter the bank, the bankers can recognise who you are and immediately take you to a room. The private banker instead of the retail banker will talk to you,” Tong said of the application of the technology. “They can profile you and know who you are.”
Tong added: “In the future, we talk about IDs. Right now, to access a bank account, you need two IDs. One ID is your PIN code. Maybe another ID is coming from biometrics, perhaps coming from your facial recognition, from your eyes or some other behaviourial authentication.”
Dr Duncan Wong, Astri’s director of security and data sciences, said while facial recognition technology was not new, the institute improved it by adding sentiment analysis, which could detect a person’s expression.
