diff --git a/bob/math/test_gsvd.py b/bob/math/test_gsvd.py
index d991c186beaf7707621d9286d896ffa88f8be565..4eac86887a92c662b6177a4bb12a55f216ea795e 100644
--- a/bob/math/test_gsvd.py
+++ b/bob/math/test_gsvd.py
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ def test_svd_signal():
                        [ 7.04651683e-01,  7.09553332e-01,  2.73037723e-04]])
 
   [U,S,V] = bob.math.svd(A)
-  numpy.testing.assert_allclose(U, U_ref, rtol=1e-5, atol=1e-6)
+  numpy.testing.assert_allclose(numpy.abs(U), numpy.abs(U_ref), rtol=1e-5, atol=1e-6)
   svd_relations(A)