Zwipe discusses biometric cards’ potential with FSS, closes MEPS deal

Zwipe joined with Financial Software and Systems (FSS) to explore the market potential from their recently-closed biometric card partnership in a video, and unveiled a new agreement with Middle East Payment Services (MEPS).

The collaboration with FSS, which increases Zwipe’s presence in Asia, was explored in a recent webinar with André Lovestam, CEO of Zwipe, and Sandeep Gomes, global head of Platform Business at FSS.

In particular, the executives discussed the advantages of biometric card adoption for both customers and issuers.

The focal points in this regard were the higher security of the biometric technology when compared to traditional payment cards, and the contactless features of biometric cards.

During the webinar, Gomes also mentioned the EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) standard, a security framework that sets the necessary requirement of ‘EMV Cards,’ those payment cards that use a chip instead of a magnetic stripe.

According to Zwipe CEO, EMV has formally recognized biometrics as a valid cardholder verification mechanism (CVM) in 2017, thus giving the technology a worldwide validation, particularly thanks to its security features.

The webinar ended with Lovestam testing a Zwipe biometric card with fingerprint authentication.

Zwipe selected by MEPS for contactless biometric cards

Zwipe was also selected by MEPS this week to bring biometric payment cards to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, with a primary focus on Jordan, Iraq, and Palestine.

Following the start of the collaboration, Zwipe Pay ONE biometric card technology will be added to MEPS’ Issuance Platform and then integrated into biometric cards by Zwipe’s card manufacturing partners in the region.

“We are delighted to take this big step with Zwipe, a well-known technology brand in biometric payments,” commented Ali Abdel Jabbar, chief executive officer at MEPS.

“Zwipe Pay ONE is recognized as the most advanced (Gen3) biometric payment technology and complements MEPS’ innovative card portfolio. We are aiming to make it available for our clients for piloting and commercial deployment during H2 2021,” Jabbar concluded.

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  financial services  |  fraud prevention  |  secure transactions  |  stocks  |  Zwipe  |  Zwipe Pay