Mastercard approves BCC to issue Zwipe biometric payment cards

Mastercard has granted Taiwanese firm Beautiful Card Corporation (BCC) approval to bring to market biometric payment cards built on the Zwipe Pay platform.

The news follows Taiwan’s Beautiful Card Corporation receiving its letter of approval from Visa to manufacture Zwipe-based cards back in March 2022, and a deal signed by Zwipe to provide BCC with its payment card platform in May.

Beautiful Card Corporation was Asia’s second-largest card manufacturer and the seventh-largest in the world according to the 2022 announcement.

Shellen Hsu, global VP of Sales and Business Development at BCC, says, “We are extremely delighted to obtain approval that enables the deployment of our biometric cards globally.

“With the growing awareness of biometric payments in the APAC region and beyond, this is crucial as we are witnessing strong interest in our core markets to launch biometric payment cards based on the Zwipe Pay platform.”

The sensors for the card are supplied by Zwipe partner Idex Biometrics.

Idex, meanwhile, has also announced that BCC will ramp up production of cards made with its Pay solution, helping Idex to expand its presence in Asia.

“With BCC’s extensive portfolio and expertise in smart card manufacturing, we are excited to advance the scaled adoption of biometric smart cards globally,” says Catharina Eklof, chief commercial officer of Idex Biometrics.

“Through our global client portfolio and ecosystem partners, we aim to deliver a seamless experience that meets the growing demand from consumers,” states BCC’s Hsu.

More Zwipe-based cards have been appearing on Mastercard’s ecosystem elsewhere in the world.

In June, Norwegian firm Zwipe inked a deal with Middle East Payment Services (MEPS), for the commercial launch of fingerprint biometric payment cards with Zwipe Pay. The rollout will be the first for biometric payment cards to include multiple banks according to Zwipe.

Back in June 2022, BCC announced a partnership with Fingerprint Cards to develop and launch contactless biometric cards for payment and access control across the global market. The companies reportedly created a biometric payment card featuring Fingerprint Cards’ T-Shape module, and plan for next-generation biometric cards that feature the second-generation of the T-Shape module with the FPC-BEP Biometric Software Platform for Access.

This post was updated July 6, 2023 at 9:35am to correct that the sensors for the Zwipe card are supplied by Idex Biometrics, and note BCC’s increasing production of cards with Idex’ technology. 

Article Topics

biometric cards  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  Mastercard  |  Zwipe  |  Zwipe Pay