Customer: National Bank of Ethiopia

Location: Ethiopia

Product/Solution: UBio-X Face Premium/ Alpeta

Partners: –

Industry: Bank & Finance

Overview

The National Bank of Ethiopia required a top-tier security system for the currency printing facility — one of the most critical and highly secured infrastructures in the country. To meet this demand, a fully integrated security solution was delivered, bringing together advanced biometric access, encrypted card verification, and intelligent video management. This unified approach created a seamless, multi-layered defense that ensures uncompromising protection for the most critical national operations.

Challenge

The bank identified a critical weakness in card-based access control. Cards could be lost, stolen, duplicated, or misused, leaving high-security zones exposed to potential intrusion. In a facility as sensitive as a currency printing operation, even a single unauthorized entry could compromise national financial assets.

Moreover, the bank required a fully integrated security operation to ensure real-time situational awareness. In scenarios where unauthorized access attempts occur, access control systems alone would not provide sufficient information; video management needed to work seamlessly with access logs to allow security teams to verify identities, monitor movements, and respond immediately to incidents. The lack of such integration in the existing system represented a significant security gap.

Solution

To address these challenges, UNION biometrics provided the multimodal biometric device, UBio-X Face Premium, featuring an 8-inch LCD screen and supporting six advanced authentication methods. This enabled simultaneous biometric authentication and card verification, with support for existing DESFire EV2 encrypted cards, ensuring seamless operation without disrupting current workflows and allowing only authorized personnel to enter critical areas. All sensitive data was encrypted during storage and transmission, meeting strict bank security requirements. The devices were integrated into a fully unified security system, including video management, allowing centralized monitoring and real-time tracking of all authentication events.

 

Value Delivered

The project strengthened security at critical entry points of the national bank, delivering reliable multi-factor authentication, complete system integration, and end-to-end encrypted data management. It demonstrated the importance of seamless integration with existing infrastructure and the need to balance advanced security features with operational usability. In high-security environments, every component must work together to ensure both safety and efficiency.