FB pixel

Mastercard, Zwipe unveil fingerprint authenticated contactless payment card

 

Mastercard has partnered with Zwipe to launch what it claims to be the world’s first fingerprint authenticated payment card, according to a report by IBTimes UK.

Using the fingerprint sensor, the Zwipe MasterCard card authenticates contactless payments and can be easily integrated with other payment technologies.

“Biometrics makes it very simple and convenient for consumers,” Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise security solutions at MasterCard, told the IBTimes UK. “Passwords are inconvenient, they’re a big hassle and they get compromised. We believe that biometrics are the way of the future because your biometrics are unique to you, and when we marry your uniqueness to a device, then that authenticates you.”

zwipe-mastercard
zwipe mastercard

The card runs on stored energy transferred from radio frequencies emitted by all standard contactless payment terminals, according to Zwipe CEO and founder Kim Humborstad.

“And we have then focused on making the process as energy efficient as possible and we spent five years on actually developing these efficient algorithms,” Humborstad told IBTimes UK.

The announcement of Zwipe Mastercard arrives on the same week as the launch of Apple Pay, a payment system that combines the use of near-field communication technology with Touch ID fingerprint sensors embedded on the new iPhone and iPad models.

Despite this, Humborstad does not consider Apple Pay as a competing payment technology, and instead, calls it a “complementary” payment system.

Zwipe partnered with bank Sparebanken DIN to trial the card in Norway, while Mastercard has been testing other biometric technologies for payments, including iris recognition and palm vein recognition.

Though Bhalla would not give an exact date for the card’s launch, he did suggest that Zwipe MasterCard will be available for UK customers some time in 2015.

Previously reported, Zwipe just won the Detektor International Award for Innovative Achievement in Access Control.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Findynet funding development of six digital wallet solutions

Finnish public-private cooperative Findynet has announced it will award 60,000 euros (US$69,200) to six digital wallet vendors to help translate…

 

Patchwork of age check, online safety legislation grows across US

As the U.S. waits for the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Texas case of Paxton v. Free Speech Coalition, which…

 

AVPA laud findings from age assurance tech trial

The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA), and several of its members, have welcomed the publication of preliminary findings from the…

 

Sri Lanka to launch govt API policies and guidelines

Sri Lanka’s government, in the wake of its digital economy drive, is gearing up to release application programming interface (API)…

 

Netherlands’ asylum seeker ID cards from Idemia use vertical ICAO format

The Netherlands will introduce new identity documents for asylum seekers Idemia Smart Identity, compliant with the ICAO specification for vertical…

 

Zenoo integrates Trinsic, Sumsub for advanced digital ID onboarding options

Onboarding and compliance orchestration engine provider Zenoo has formed a pair of partnerships to give its customers a broader range…

Comments

9 Replies to “Mastercard, Zwipe unveil fingerprint authenticated contactless payment card”

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Biometric Market Analysis

Most Viewed This Week

Featured Company

Biometrics Insight, Opinion

Digital ID In-Depth

Biometrics White Papers

Biometrics Events