CUSTOMERS enrolled in National Australia Bank's new voice biometrics system for phone banking may be able to use the same system to authenticate their internet banking activities.

NAB is the first local institution to give customers an opportunity to enrol in a voiceprint recognition system, dispensing with the need to remember PINs and passwords or provide personal information when calling the bank.

NAB direct channels speech program manager Sam Jackel said voiceprints could be used as a second-factor authentication method for internet banking transactions independently verified at present via an SMS message sent to the customer's mobile phone.

Users had to open the message to retrieve a single-use passcode and enter it into the onscreen session, he said.

But, Mr Jackel said, using voiceprints would enable a simple phone call to authenticate the user against the unique voiceprint record.