Financial companies and telephone security/gender identity

[bendmeoverbackwards]

So many financial companies who phone customers often use their voice to verify identity. I don't mean voice recognition, just that they expect a customer with a man's name to have a male sounding voice.

How does this work with people now self-identifying as a different gender? Surely they now can't use this a method of security?

I have never had voice recognition. Not since the 1960s anyway. Therefore I am suspicious of your post. Doesnt make sense, doesnt exist (for verification).

I’ve never heard of this either.

i’ve often called utilities companies we are with where the accounts are in DH’s name and because I can answer the security questions I’ve never been questioned that it’s a commonly male name and I have an ‘female’ voice.

its verification via security questions not how your voice ‘sounds’

As someone who takes calls for a financial institution I really worry about getting this wrong. Thankfully I haven’t come across it so far. Someone’s voice is really key in getting a gut instinct about whether you’re talking to the right person (age, sex).

It’s not just security questions. If I am talking to somebody who my system tells me is 80 years old and they clearly sound younger then I have to follow my instinct and end the call. And that also applies to whether they sound male or female.

While I agree banks etc. do this, it's hardly a major security measure is it? The chance that some fraudster won't know anyone of the opposite sex to ask to make a call is rather low, and I've always assumed if you manage to sound indignant enough when challenged 'Are you saying I sound like a woman!?!' you'd get away with it anyway.

I've had to record a preset phrase for my banking, so that can be used as a means to proving my identity in future. I don't think I've had to use it yet though!

I do actually have a story of an ex-colleague who was speaking to a customer via phone. Customer had a deep, very male sounding voice, and was calling to confirm an appointment for later that day. When my colleague asked for their details (their surname) she kept telling the customer that she couldn't see any booking for that day. Customer understandably got more and more irate as they were explaining that they did have a booking and my colleague kept saying "no you don't".
Of course my colleague had assumed she was looking for a booking under 'Mr ABC' and the one under 'Mrs ABC' could not be for this person. Yeah... that went down like a lead balloon and my colleague was mortified.

the security questions are nothing to do with the sound of someone’s voice. I used to work in a call centre - there are lots of people who aren’t easy to discern their sex over the phone

I think what OP is saying is what does the bank advisor do if the name on the account is Florence Ladylike but the person calling sounds more like Fred Lumberjack.

All that can be done is to ask all the security questions and if the caller gets them right you do the call. This has always been the case though, I was working on Customer Service phone lines 20 odd years ago and you'd occasionally get a call where the voice didn't match the name. You couldn't days 'excuse me but are you a bloke' because what if it's just a woman with a cold or an unfortunate voice. You just ask the questions and if they verify then you go ahead.

Yes, I suspect they do what they've always done, which is verify the person's identity. I have lots of friends with names that can be both male or female. I even know a Rory who is a woman. And I also know plenty of people who have names where I would have no idea what gender they are. I worked with a colleague (entirely by email) for like 6 months at the start of COVID, who had a name I'd never even heard of before and didn't know how to pronounce. I just sort of guessed based on how this person wrote that they were female. I only found out much later he was a man! And lots of people have voices that don't sound typically 'male' or 'female'.

Plus, I mean, it's not like my bank would have any idea if it was me calling or my female neighbour, just that we both have higher picked voices. Seems like an odd system and I would hope they'd be relying on more secure methods of verifying identity!

Interesting @Catseye109 so the sound of the voice is doubling up on the security questions to make it more secure. So what would you do if someone answered the questions correctly but had a female sounding voice and a male name (or vice versa)?

It would vary based on the situation. A poster above said they hoped they would rely on better security methods than this and OF COURSE you need more security than this. But it helps you build a picture and if someone called who sounded male but was listed as female then I would certainly be more wary.

I would probably check it in their account there was any reference to having changed names/genders or if there were any notes about the customer having a deep voice.
if there was no reference to this then I think it would depend on what they were asking to do.

I can’t just ignore that things don’t match. If that was a fraudster I could end up with a disciplinary.