CU*Answers welcomes two new MemberPass biometric authentication pilot participants

John Ainsworth

CU*Answers is excited to announce that two additional credit unions will join the MemberPass biometric member authentication pilot: Partnership Financial Credit Union (Morton Grove, IL) and Madison County Federal Credit Union (Anderson, IN). Recently, CU*Answers announced the first of its pilot members, encourage Financial Credit Union Network, whose deployment was initiated in March 2024.

In December 2023, CU*Answers integrated MemberPass into its CU*BASE core system. MemberPass, developed by CUSO Bonifii, transforms the member authentication process by eliminating the need for knowledge-based questions, such as mother’s maiden name or partial social security numbers, and instead utilizes secure biometric and digital credential authentication. This enables a bi-directional authentication of the member to their credit union within fifteen seconds or less, all without the necessity of sharing personally identifiable information (PII).

This advancement results in a simpler, more secure member experience. MemberPass can authenticate in any credit union channel, including contact centers, in-person interactions, at interactive teller machines (ITMs), online platforms, or within mobile applications. CU*Answers has implemented MemberPass for credit unions across contact centers, branches, and ITMs, with plans to begin development on adding the integration to the It’s Me 247 online and mobile environments by Q4 2024.

Geoff Johnson, CEO of CU*Answers, expressed, “We are glad that Partnership Financial and Madison County credit unions could take advantage of the new integration to MemberPass. They can anticipate enhancing their members’ experiences while safeguarding both their members and credit unions from fraud.”

John Ainsworth, CEO of Bonifii, remarked, "We are thrilled to extend the comprehensive fraud protection that MemberPass offers to Partnership Financial and Madison County credit unions through CU*Answers, and look forward to adding value to many more CU*Answers clients in the months ahead.”

In the upcoming months, CU*Answers will progress beyond the pilot phase and provide all of its clients with the ability to implement this groundbreaking fraud prevention solution.

---