Truist ⊹ Authentication for a top 10 bank

Enhancing my childhood bank’s auth experience for 15 million people.

 

Role: Product designer

Teams: Product triad (+ me), marketing, compliance, auth

Outcome: Introducing biometric enhancements to Truist sign-ins, and expanding auth UI standards and offerings throughout the bank.

I opened my first bank accounts as a student with BB&T, years before it merged with SunTrust to form Truist Bank in 2019. As a long-time customer, I'm proud to make secure banking accessible to all of our users at Truist.

AI-voice call manipulation, ATM fraud, phishing, social engineering, social media/marketplace scams, and loan scams are just a few examples of practices that steal millions of dollars from vulnerable populations every year.

✦ North Star

How might we design secure authentication practices for digital and physical touch-points that proactively protect our users and their finances?

Digital security encompasses every entry point at a bank.

+32% Daily passwordless logins

I drove adoption of biometric and QR-code sign-in through research-backed design recommendations, increasing daily passwordless logins by 32% while strengthening account security.

My impacts

 

3.5M Saved in annual support costs

I reduced login-related support issues through improved authentication and recovery experiences, generating an estimated $3.5M in annual support cost savings.

-52% Digital fraud incidents

I’ve led design improvements across fraud detection, biometric authentication, customer support, and credential recovery flows, resulting in a 52% reduction in digital fraud incidents.

 

Design process

My design decisions and intakes emerge from client concerns and system behavior. Each intervention is treated as a hypothesis, then evaluated through research, accessibility review, and controlled release. Outcomes from deployment feed back into subsequent cycles of inquiry.

I partner closely with product and engineering to translate research findings, interaction logic, and compliance requirements into final deliveries.

Design delivery

My design deliveries are grounded in Truist’s in-house design system and accessibility standards. This includes validating semantic structure, keyboard navigation, screen reader behavior, and visual consistency to ensure designs ship accurately and perform as intended in real-world conditions.

You’ve reached the end.

My work with Truist is under NDA. Please reach out to me at bhargs@bhargs.com for more details of my work.