Finextra, France

Banks can now provide their customers with visual disability a security solution for online banking services. In the era of online and telephone banking, there is a growing need for banks to remotely authenticate all customers during non-face-to-face transactions, including visually impaired customers.

The device, 'X.i.-Sign 4500' acts as a personal authentication and signing tool based on the E.M.V. standard smart card designed specifically to meet the needs of the visually impaired banking users. 'E.M.V.' implies the specifications issued by E.M.V.Co., covering the operation of Smart card payment cards.

The device features a specific audio interface based on the patented 'Chip-to-Speech' technology of 'XIRING' (France), that enables the device to recite any text displayed on the screen in a clearly recorded voice, and which is accessed with a discrete earphone. Using this function, the device can 'read out' the one-time password calculated by the E.M.V. banking card, and also read back the transaction logs from the card so a user can audibly check the amounts charged to the card. The reader is portable and offline so it can be used in any location as a means of online authentication.

It also features an oversize screen, displaying the authentication password in 7-millimetre characters for partially sighted persons. That represents twice the size of characters displayed on existing relevant devices.

When the device is turned on the first time, a special 'Discovery' mode is activated which helps the user to learn the layout of the keyboard using audible indications, in order to memorise the position and the associated function of each key.