Fingerprint Cards argues biometric cards are perfect complement to mobile payments in China

While smartphones are commonly used for payments in China, biometric payment cards can fill a significant and often-forgotten gap in the country’s payment ecosystem, Fingerprint Cards argues in a blog post reviewing the dialogue held at the inaugural Money 20/20 China in Hangzhou earlier in November.

FPC points out that while both AliPay and WeChatPay both have hundreds of millions of users in China, compared to Apple Pay’s 127 million users worldwide, China UnionPay has become the world’s third highest value card network, after Mastercard and Visa. Additionally, WorldPay’s Global Payment Report 2018 shows that 43 percent of in-store purchases in China are made with a card. A lack of payment card infrastructure, which spurred mobile payment adoption, has been changing. Banks, fintechs, and companies are encouraging card adoption as a companion payment method to mobile, and the country’s market for payment cards is growing, with the majority of cards now in use being contactless, according to the post.

Fingerprint Cards collaborated with market research firm Kantar TNS to survey Chinese consumers, and predicts that cash payments will decline by 26 percent in China over the next three years, while contactless bank card payments will grow by 29 percent, and mobile payments by 33 percent.

Contactless cards are driving an increase in card payments, but strong authentication has been the missing element in the case for broader card adoption, the company says. In a market where cards with PINs and passwords are not as entrenched, and biometric adoption is advanced, fingerprint payment cards are a natural next step. In the longer term, Fingerprint Cards sees more diverse form factors, including mobile devices, wearables, USB dongles, and POS terminals enabling unified authentication methods with other biometrics.

Fingerprint Cards’ T-Shape fingerprint module is already being used in a trial of dual-interface biometric payment cards in China, and the company expects volumes to increase with a broader commercial launch in 2020.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  China  |  fingerprint authentication  |  Fingerprint Cards