IDEX VP comments on the UK becoming a cashless society

According to Equifax research, more than one-third of UK citizens believe the UK will be a cashless society within the next 10 years, reports Verdict. Cash machines around the UK are closing at a rate of 300 every month partly because of the significant increase in contactless payments for small transactions and earlier this month banking industry body UK Finance said that debit card payments had overtaken cash as the most popular form of payment in the UK for the first time.

In response to news that an ATM fee cut will likely lead to more cash machine closures, David Orme, SVP at IDEX commented on how this will move the UK further towards a cashless society with added support from biometric payment solutions.

“The news that hundreds of ATMs are likely to close, following a reduction in fees for cash withdrawals over the next four-years, highlights the fact that we are swiftly moving towards a cashless society. Whilst the cost to operators per cash withdrawal has been reduced, this is not sustainable and we can expect to see further closures of ATMs as a result. However, with the introduction of biometric smart cards soon to make contactless payments even more convenient, secure and personal than ever, in tandem with the retraction of ATMs, the UK can expect to be one of the key leaders in embracing a cashless, more secure, society.

“Biometric smart cards will be more convenient than cash and won’t even require a PIN, as payments are made using a fingerprint alone. As a result of this new technology, people making payments will no longer have to compromise security for convenience and will enjoy the benefits of limitless payments, with the £30 transaction cap becoming a thing of the past. We can expect to see banks deploying millions of biometric smart cards to their account holders by 2019.”

IDEX has been strengthening its sales and marketing teams adding several experts from the cards and payment industry in preparation for mass commercialization of the company’s fingerprint solutions for biometric cards.

Goode Intelligence forecasts that by 2023 the adoption of biometrics in the financial industry will contribute US$4.8 billion in revenue for firms involved in delivering those biometric systems to the banking sector.

Article Topics

authentication  |  biometrics  |  cashless payment  |  Idex Biometrics