CardLab biometric cards with FPC sensor reach market, Zwipe signs up four new partners

CardLab has introduced a fingerprint biometric card it says is well-suited to government and identity applications including payments, COVID-19 vaccination passports and other health credentials, and cryptocurrency keys.

The company quips that rather than spending £50 million hunting garbage dumps for a lost hard disk with Bitcoins, consumers can invest $100 in secure biometric card storage.

The QuardCard features the FPC1320 biometric sensor from Fingerprint Cards, a secure element from Infineon, and an energy harvesting system provided by UK company FreeVolt. Danish software company Quardlock provides the backend authentication solution. Users can store multiple accounts on one card, and perform contactless transactions through NFC or Bluetooth.

CardLab’s BIO-Operating System, which is an integrated version of TrustSec’s SLCOS smartcard operating system, provides protection against hacking and identity theft, and the card supports the TrustSec FIDO2 token system for passwordless authentication. Two versions of the card are available, a basic version and an advanced version with a rechargeable battery, display, and additional security features.

The card’s development is supported by a grant under the EU’s Horizon 2020 program.

Zwipe signs four manufacturing partnerships for Asia-Pacific and Europe

Zwipe has announced agreements with four card manufacturing customers in the Asia-Pacific region and Europe for its biometric payment card technology. The company describes the new partners as “prominent,” and says they combine to ship more than a billion cards annually, more than 150 million of which are payment cards.

The new partners will work with Zwipe to develop new market opportunities for biometric payments using the Zwipe Pay ONE platform. Under the agreements, targeted pilots are expected to begin before the end of 2021, with mass-market rollouts following.

“We continue to see strong traction from card manufacturers all over the world to engage with Zwipe on biometric payment cards based on our Zwipe Pay ONE platform,” comments Zwipe CEO André Løvestam. “This is well matched by interest from issuers who are keen to deliver the next generation contactless payments experience to consumers, combining the convenience and safety of truly contact-free with the security of strong biometric authentication.”

The company announced earlier this month that a Swedish fintech plans to issue 100,000 cards made with Zwipe Pay ONE during 2021.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  CardLab  |  Fingerprint Cards  |  fingerprint sensors  |  secure element  |  smartcards  |  Zwipe  |  Zwipe Pay