Forum held to discuss South Korea’s biometrics industry competitiveness

A South Korea industrial forum event last week saw participation from South Korea’s top three mobile carriers – SK Telecom, KT and LG U+, along with biometric companies, financial companies, and government institutions such as the Eletronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) and the Financial Security Institute (FSEC), according to a report by Korea Joongang Daily.

“Through the forum, we plan to establish a communication window to prevent Korea’s biometric authentication industries’ competitiveness from deteriorating due to lack of standard technology and cooperative ecosystem,” said the chairman, Seoul National University Prof. Park Chun-shik. “We will work to become a center that will help create a biometric authentication economy system that will hasten the establishment of a simple, fast, but also safe, authentication payment environment.”

The forum will help promote the use of biometric technologies to take a leading position in the global market.by encouraging companies to develop a user experience (UX) that will provide convenience and build credibility of biometric technologies, leading to more Korean customers adopting these technologies.

The country currently faces many challenges regarding the growth of its biometrics industries, including the many regulations that limit their practices, as well as the lack of a cohesive ecosystem among various industries.

South Korea has a newfound interest in biometrics after the recent success of the biometrics-enabled payment system, Samsung Pay, which began piloting in the country back in July in advance of its late-September U.S. launch.

Within just a month of its Korea launch, there are already more than 600,000 Samsung Pay users accessing the service via Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus.

There are already 800,000 credit cards registered for Samsung Pay and more than 35 billion won ($30 million) in payments made using the service.

Meanwhile, LG Electronics is also planning on launching its own biometrics-enabled mobile payment service called G Pay next month.

The Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information recently stated that South Korea’s biometrics market has increased to US$265 million, up from US$134 million four years ago.

Article Topics

biometric payment system  |  biometrics  |  consumer adoption  |  fintech  |  market report  |  South Korea