Fingerprint Cards and STMicroelectronics co-develop Biometric System-on-Card platform

Fingerprint Cards and STMicroelectronics have partnered to develop a Biometric System-on-Card (BSoC) solution to bring to the contactless fingerprint payment card market. The result, the companies say, is an efficient and competitive solution for card manufacturers to offer the banking market.

The integration includes the newest version of ST’s secure payments technology based on the ST31/STPay chipset and STM32 general purpose microcontroller, and FPC’s T-Shape sensor module. The card runs on ST’s Java Card platform and GlobalPlatform operating systems. The STPay technology ensures support for multiple international and regional payment schemes, with EMVCo and CC EAL 6+ hardware certifications, software certifications up to the OS level, and secure pre-personalization services from ST to ensure supply chain trust.

“Cost-effective and user-friendly biometric authentication will significantly increase the security level and user convenience of banking transactions. It may let banks raise or remove the maximum allowable transaction value for contactless payments,” says Laurent Degauque, marketing director for Secure Microcontrollers at STMicroelectronics. “Fingerprint Cards brings valuable and market-proven expertise in solutions for battery-less and space-constrained devices. Their products combining powerful processing and low energy consumption are ideal companions to our STPay solutions for payment cards.”

The payment card is the first intended product from the partners, who plan to eventually move into identification, healthcare, access control and transportation cards.

Fingerprint Cards SVP for Payments and Access BL Michel Roig adds, “This is a powerful collaboration to create innovative and optimized solutions that not only make it easier for card makers to integrate biometrics in their portfolio, but also bring the total cost down. In the end, strengthening the security for contactless payments will offer consumers a worry-less payment experience.”

FPC Senior Director Lina Andolf-Orup writes for PaymentsSource this week that by increasing security with authentication on the card itself, and avoiding the involvement of the PIN pad, biometric payment cards answer the primary concerns consumers now have with card payments. The spending limits that remain in place on contactless payment cards, though higher, remain a source of frustration for both consumers and banks, and by adding the security of fingerprint recognition, banks can provide their customers with something new that improves the convenience of their payment experiences, Andolf-Orup reasons.

A partnership supplying its T-Shape sensor module to Thales has Fingerprint Cards’ technology in the first commercial batch of biometric payment cards that are expected to reach five-figures in units issued.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  fingerprint sensors  |  microcontroller  |  STMicroelectronics  |  stocks