FB pixel

Gemalto contactless biometric payment cards piloted by Italian bank

 

Italy’s largest banking group Intesa Sanpaolo will pilot Mastercard biometric contactless payment cards supplied by Gemalto in the first European test of its kind for the payments company, according to the announcement.

Gemalto says the EMV cards are powered by the terminal, and enable customers to tap their cards at standard contactless POS terminals and authorize the transaction with a fingerprint. Adopting the cutting-edge cards to replace PIN or signature verification is part of the bank’s digital transformation strategy, and removes the limits previously placed on the value of contactless payments.

“We are proud to have undertaken the first step to introduce in Italy a card which technology offers the consumers clear and concrete benefits, following our choice to anticipate and facilitate the diffusion of innovative technologies functional to people’s everyday banking,” says Intesa Sanpaolo Retail Manager Cinzia Bruzzone. “The Intesa Sanpaolo – Mastercard pilot project, achieved with Mercury Payment System support, avails itself of Gemalto’s contribution as a global operator, who provided the technology behind the new biometric cards and the tools necessary for storing the fingerprint on the chip.”

The initial pilot is scheduled to operate in Turin, Milan, and Rome for 16 weeks.

“Consumers are quickly recognizing the combined power of contactless and biometric technologies to take the stress and strain out of secure transactions,” comments Bertrand Knopf, executive vice president of Banking and Payment for Gemalto.

French bank Societe Generale has also removed the amount limit on contactless transactions during its trial of IDEMIA biometric technology.

The European Commission recently approved the acquisition of Gemalto by Thales, drawing the transaction near to completion.

Article Topics

 |   |   |   |   |   | 

Latest Biometrics News

 

Financial fraud prompts $14M digital identity intelligence investment, calls for action

Financial institutions and regulators continue to invest in anti-fraud and identity verification. Barclays has invested in anti-fraud platform Heka as…

 

Age estimation at the shop, age verification online: France laws tested with questions

In France, age assurance tools are showing up online and at retail vendors selling age restricted products, prompting questions from…

 

Ofcom planning more safety measures to tackle addictive design

It has been noted previously in these pages that the UK is looking to be taken seriously in pursuing its…

 

OFIQ community reviews early results of biometric quality assessment tool

The standardization of image quality for face biometrics is a major step towards making population-scale biometric systems functional, and as…

 

New binocular iris scanner from IriTech designed for high volume use cases

Iris recognition provider IriTech, Inc. has announced the launch of the IriAegis-BK, a binocular iris scanner designed for high-throughput biometric…

 

Laos begins integrating digital ID cards into public agencies

Government agencies in Laos have received the order to begin integrating the country’s chip-enabled identity cards and citizen databases. Ministries,…

Comments

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