Supply and demand sides of biometric payment cards market lining up

Biometric payment cards continue to advance towards commercialization, with a series of new announcements. Cardmaker Goldpac announced the introduction of its new fingerprint biometrics smartcard for digital currency and electronic transactions, and CardLab announced its addition to Mastercard’s Lighthouse program, a competition to support growth-oriented partnerships for fintechs and banks, with its own biometric card. A new study by TietoEVRY and Zwipe says UK consumers already want the technology.

Goldpac launches biometric card for payments and digital currency

Goldpac has announced the official introduction of its new fingerprint biometrics-enabled smartcard for digital currency and electronic payments, which the company refers to together as “DC/EP.”

The new card, made with fingerprint technology from partner Idex Biometrics has been certified by China UnionPay and other relevant parties, paving the way for an expected deployment in the near future.

Through the new card, Goldpac plans to meet demand for secure digital wallets once they have been adopted more broadly.

In the meantime, the company sees a gap in the market for fingerprint biometrics to be used in card payments, as they are for payments with mobile devices. The company states biometric cards can reduce fraud, theft, and accidental transactions that can pose problems for card issuers.

In addition to its use for financial transactions, the new smartcard is envisioned for a variety of use cases including integration into multi-application scenarios and identity verification.

The company has also partnered with Zwipe on biometric payment cards.

CardLab joins Mastercard’s 2021 Lighthouse program

CardLab has been chosen as a participant in the spring edition of Mastercard’s 2021 Lighthouse program to present its biometric card solution with blockchain data storage to financial services companies.

The networking initiative and competition seeks to boost innovation and symbiotic growth between fintechs, banks, and Mastercard. The program is also meant to build growth through lasting partnerships that focus on financial support, cybersecurity, market intelligence, payments, efficiency, experience, and financial inclusion.

“It is with great pride we announce that CardLab is chosen for the Mastercard Lighthouse program,” CardLab CEO Frank Sandelov tweeted, “We look forward to show the benefits with our biometric card solution.”

Companies joining the Lighthouse competition will be judged in several stages based on their progress. The remaining finalists then compete for the final round of the competition, and are judged on their overall improvement.

TietoEVRY and Zwipe say UK market wants biometric cards now

More than half of UK consumers are concerned about theft and fraud with contactless limits increasing, and 83 percent are worried about the spread of infection when making in-store payments, according to a new survey from TietoEVRY and Zwipe.

TietoEVRY argues in a new 12-page white paper that the time to issue biometric payment cards has arrived. The research shows contactless payments are the norm for more than three-quarters of people in the UK, and after watching a short video on biometric payment cards, 79 percent said they would like their next card to include biometrics. More than half would be willing to pay for the capability, and almost half say they would consider switching banks for it.

The companies made a similar argument about the Swedish market in November, after forming a partnership in October.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  CardLab  |  consumer adoption  |  financial services  |  fingerprint sensors  |  Goldpac  |  Idex Biometrics  |  Mastercard  |  Microsoft  |  UnionPay  |  Zwipe