South Korea’s banks are preparing to upgrade the way they verify their customers’ identities. The Korea Federation of Banks (KFB) announced that it will release a blockchain based identy verification system in July for usage in retail domenstic banks.

Due to the ‘Digital Signature Act’ policy, banks in South Korean were forced to use a 20-year old ineffective public banking security system. Luckily, the government reversed this policy by now. According to Korea JoongAng Daily, the new system, dubbed ‘BankSign’ can be used in both online computer-based and mobile banking, may offer local banks an option to replace the existing ID verification system.

“BankSign is the first project co-developed by the local banking sector utilizing blockchain technology,” said by a spokesperson from KFB.

The BankSign is made on top of Nexledger, a private enterprise cloud computing platform made by Samsung’s Enterprise Solution (SDS) division. Nexledger is a biometric authentication solution that enables customers to gain access to multi services through a single ID authentication. BankSign marks the second time that Nexledger has been applied to a financial sector. Before then, Samsung has already tested Nexledger blockchain with Samsung Card in late 2016.

KFB was established in 1984, represents commercial banks in South Korea, including notable financial giants like Shinhan and Woori. It was reported that this institution has made a banking blockchain association with domestic financial institutions in November 2017.

The Beta testing of BankSign started this April, KFB also said that, after a successful implementation in banking sectors, BankSign will also be applied in government sectors and public organizations.

The KFB spokesperson added that: “While BankSign will start off by providing the service in the banking sector, we will work with the government and other public organizations to expand its usage.”