Hong Kong's Wing Lung Bank has deployed Thales's SafeSign to enable token-based two-factor authentication for its retail internet banking customers.

As one of the first local banks in Hong Kong to deploy token-based two-factor authentication, Wing Lung Bank now meets the Hong Kong Monetary Authority directive stating that single-factor authentication for high-risk transactions is no longer adequate in the face of rising online security threats.

The Thales SafeSign two-factor authentication product has been deployed within Wing Lung Bank’s NET Banking service, for retail banking. SafeSign was selected due to its scalability, flexibility and ease of integration with Wing Lung Bank’s existing e-banking system.

In addition to SafeSign’s ability to support the use of hardware tokens, Wing Lung Bank’s current authentication tool, the security solution can easily support other forms of authentication that might be used in the future, such as smart cards, SMS and e-certificates.

We believe that enhanced online banking security is the key to our long-term profitability. Thales’s strong heritage and experience within the security and finance industries worldwide, combined with the ability to offer a flexible and scalable solution to meet our future requirements, made them a natural choice as our security solution provider, commented Fernando Yu, head of the electronic banking department at Wing Lung Bank.