You might soon be able to do online banking with smartwatch verification

SK Telecom in South Korea has just received an international certification from the Fast Identity Online Alliance for its smartwatch identity verification system. This means in the near future, you could use your smartwatch to access online banking data and verify transactions.

Though I’m not entirely sure whether SK Telecom’s technology is that applicable here in the US where online banking is done simply with a user ID and password, if you have any experience with the Korean online banking system, this may be the best news you’ve ever heard.

Korean online banking, for those of you who are not familiar with it, is unnecessarily complicated. You are often given a separate USB drive or a tiny digital password-generating machine. The bank would send a randomized code each time you want to access your account, and usually, you can’t even use your computer keyboard. More often than not, you’ll see a virtual keyboard on your screen with numbers and letters mixed up, which you have to individually click for security concerns. Yes, so it’s never as simple as just typing in your information. Though this may add an extra layer of security or two, it’s extremely tedious.

Well, that’s where SK Telecom’s new technology could shine. The new smartwatch technology would replace these USB drives or password-generating devices. Instead, you could simply tap the screen of the smartwatch, given that your device is registered for verification with your bank. According to the company, all data are encrypted, and there’s even an option to terminate the service immediately and remotely in case your watch gets lost.

Although this smartwatch verification technology is not yet commercially available, SK Telecom says it will be provided to financial institutions and application developers for further testing and optimization.