Gemalto kiosks help retailers authenticate customer ID for branded credit cards

In a Q&A interview with FierceRetail, Gemalto’s SVP of banking and payments, Paul Kobos, discussed how the company’s biometrics-based, self-serve credit card kiosks can help retailers authenticate customer identities when issuing store-branded credit cards.

Powered by “know your customer” compliant technology, Gemalto’s kiosks provide retailers with an anti-fraud security measure while simplifying the sign-up process for customers.

The kiosks are designed to ensure that there are no disruptions at checkout, no waiting period for customers seeking rewards and no challenges for retailers that want to maintain their relationships with loyal customers.

“With these new kiosks, we’re aiming to get rid of the complex, manual and fraud-prone processes that comes along with issuing the store-branded credit cards that retailers know are a significant business draw for consumers,” Kobos said. “Those hurdles often deter customers from enrolling for cards, which isn’t a reality that retailers should have to live with. Consumers also shouldn’t have to wait to get their cards when they do enroll, and employees shouldn’t have to waste time walking customers through the currently arduous process. So much of it can be automated, streamlined and sped up.”

Kobos said that the kiosks do not record or store the biometric data of customers, but instead, leverages this information locally and temporarily on the equipment to complete the discrete ID verification checking process.

The current process of enrolling customers for store-branded credit cards requires the retailer to verify the consumer’s personal information and manually check their photo ID, which could potentially be fraudulent.

Alternatively, Gemalto’s self-serve kiosks use biometric ID verification to ensure that both the customer’s ID document is legitimate and that it belongs to the rightful person.

Customers who forget their existing card at home can simply print a replacement instead of employees having to rely phone numbers to look up their account, which makes credit accounts susceptible to scamming and fraud, Kobos said.

“In order for brick-and-mortar retailers to survive and combat e-commerce, they’re going to need to offer more convenient and tailored services that ensure consumers continue to find value in coming into stores,” Kobos said. “Often, the more customized and dynamic those next-gen services get, the harder they are for companies to implement and for consumers to use. Providing store-branded credits cards via these self-serve kiosks checks all those boxes: added value in the loyalty program, simple installment, incomparable usability and even a small dose of novelty or ingenuity for a retail brand.”

Previously reported, Gemalto recently launched a machine learning-based fraud prevention solution for banks‎.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Gemalto  |  identity verification  |  kiosk