[THE INVESTOR]  The iris-recognition capability of the new Galaxy Note 7 smartphone by Samsung Electronics is expected to allow customers to use mobile banking services by Kookmin Bank, a bank official said on Sept.29.

Samsung plans to start sales of the new Note 7 on Saturday in South Korea, about one month after the world’s biggest maker of smartphones announced a global recall of the old Note 7 due to a faulty battery.

Samsung will soon announce a partnership with Kookmin Bank and other financial firms to expand the ecosystem of the iris-recognition capability of the devices.

“Last-minute preparations have been underway to link our mobile banking services to the iris-recognition capability of the Galaxy Note 7,” said a Kookmin Bank official.

No date has been set for the start of Kookmin’s mobile banking services on the Note 7, but it will begin in the near future, the official said.

The Note 7 supports Samsung Pass authentication solution, bringing authentication such as iris scanning and fingerprint recognition to more financial apps and services.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)