Mastercard brings Payment Passkey Service to Latin America

Mastercard has debuted its Payment Passkey Service in Latin America, in a partnership with Brazil events platform Sympla and global payments orchestrator Yuno, to accelerate secure online checkout for shoppers.

A release says that, beginning in January, Sympla and Yuno will be the first partners in the region to offer the Mastercard Payment Passkey Service, ahead of a wider regional rollout. The service leverages Mastercard’s tokenization technology, which replaces a primary account number (PAN) with a token.

Payment passkeys allow shoppers checking out to choose their Mastercard for Click to Pay, or a card already stored securely on file with a merchant, then confirm payments with biometric authentication through fingerprint or facial scan.

Research from Mastercard shows that 90 percent of consumers worldwide believe biometrics are more secure and convenient than passwords.

“Mastercard is committed to building a payment experience where convenience and security coexist and partnering with Sympla and Yuno marks a significant step towards advancing payment authentication in the region,” says Silvana Hernandez, executive vice president, Core Products, Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean.

Juan Pablo Ortega, CEO of Yuno, says passkeys “align perfectly with Yuno’s strategy of adopting and scaling innovations quickly. By making authentication easier and reducing friction at checkout, passkeys drive higher conversion rates, happier customers, and a better payment experience for everyone.”

Mastercard recently committed to phasing out manual card entry and static passwords in favor of tokenization and biometrics by 2030, and to replace traditional authentication methods with on-device biometrics for users to authenticate purchases without exposing personal data online.

In Latin America, close to 100 percent of issuers are enabled to implement Click to Pay payments at checkout.

Jorn Lambert, chief product officer at Mastercard, says that, like the transition from signing and swiping to tapping cards, “we’re now moving from manual entry and passwords to seamless and secure payments in just a few clicks.”

Last month, the payments giant announced the rollout of its passkey-enabled Click to Pay ecommerce feature through partnerships in the United Arab Emirates and Asia-Pacific, following similar announcements regarding the MENA region and India.

Mastercard’s passkey product integrates FIDO and W3C standards.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  Latin America  |  Mastercard  |  passkeys  |  payment passkey