Visa transforming digital payments with biometric authentication

Digital payments, passkeys and biometric authentication are easing customer checkout friction, improving security and transforming the shopping experience across the world.

Noon Payments adds Visa payment passkey for Middle East ecommerce

Noon Payments has become the first payment service provider (PSP) globally to offer Visa  Payment Passkey, introducing FIDO-based authentication to ecommerce transactions across the Middle East.

The Visa Payment Passkey replaces traditional passwords and one-time passcodes (OTP) with device-native biometric methods such as fingerprints, facial recognition or PINs. This streamlines the online checkout experience while warding off fraud and phishing attacks.

Built on FIDO2 authentication standards from the FIDO Alliance, the solution ensures that sensitive biometric data remains securely stored on the consumer’s device. It is designed to work seamlessly across devices and payment channels.

“We are excited to partner with Noon Payments to introduce this cutting-edge authentication solution to the Middle East,” says Godfrey Sullivan, Senior Vice President, Products and Solutions for Visa Central Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“By leveraging biometrics as the primary authentication method on supported devices, we are creating a more intuitive and trustworthy payment experience that not only increases security but also drives higher conversion rates for merchants.”

The initiative also integrates Visa Acceptance Platform technologies such as Payer Authentication and Authorization, supporting passkey readiness and reinforcing security across the Noon Payments ecosystem. Initial deployment will focus on Noon’s merchant network, with plans for broader regional adoption in the near future.

Biometrics and passkeys replacing OTP authentication in India

India’s digital payments industry is poised for a 2–3 percentage point increase in transaction success rates, driven by the rollout of biometric and passkey-based authentication across major payment networks, according to a report by the Economic Times.

Traditional one-time passwords (OTPs), long used as the default second factor of authentication, have been plagued by delivery failures, network issues, and user errors, leading to frequent transaction declines. In contrast, biometric and passkey authentication methods are device-bound, eliminating the need for OTP delivery and reducing friction at checkout.

Girish Krishnan, Director of Payments, Rewards and Merchant Services at Amazon Pay told the Economic Times that they’re expecting an improvement in transaction rates from biometric-based payment authentication. He noted that incorrect PIN entries are a common issue for Unified Payments Interface (UPI) users, which biometrics can help resolve.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data indicates that UPI success rates among major banks range from 93 to 95 percent. Failures are typically attributed to business declines, such as insufficient funds or dormant accounts, and technical issues like incorrect PINs or backend errors.

The impact of biometric authentication is expected to be most pronounced in card transactions, where friction points are more prevalent. Bipin Preet Singh, CEO of Mobikwik, said biometrics can effectively address such friction points.

While many payment aggregators have already adopted biometric authentication, card networks like Visa are advancing passkey technology as a secure alternative. Visa Payment Passkey generates a unique token tied to the user’s device and authenticates each transaction using a hardware-protected private key. This approach minimizes reliance on telecom networks and mitigates risks such as phishing and credential replay attacks.

“With Visa Payment Passkey, every authentication is signed using a hardware-protected private key paired with a public key registered with Visa,” said Ramakrishnan Gopalan, VP, head of Products, India and South Asia, Visa. “This reduces dependency on telecom networks and renders phishing or credential replay attacks virtually impossible.”

Industry leaders emphasize that biometrics shift the security paradigm from “something you have” (like an OTP) to “something you are,” enhancing both user experience and fraud prevention. Biometric credentials can’t be shared, pointed out Reeju Datta, cofounder of Cashfree.

According to NPCI’s August 2025 data, business decline rates varied across banks — HDFC Bank at 4.6 percent, Bank of Baroda at 8.5 percent, and State Bank of India at 5.9 percent. Airtel Payments Bank recorded the highest rate at 14.05 percent.

The shift toward biometric and passkey authentication aligns with the Reserve Bank of India’s new Digital Payment Transactions Authentication Directions, issued on September 26. The guidelines mandate two-factor authentication for all digital payments, unless exempted, and endorse a range of methods including passwords, PINs, OTPs, passphrases, tokens, and biometric verification such as fingerprints or Aadhaar.

The RBI’s move reflects a broader push toward risk-based authentication models, aimed at curbing fraud in both domestic and cross-border transactions.

Targeting checkout friction in APAC with payment passkeys

A recent webinar featuring leaders from Visa, Thales, Worldpay, and Tonik explored how tokenization, Click to Pay, and payment passkeys are reshaping the digital checkout experience. The discussion revealed a region setting the pace, although not always in sync.

In Southeast Asia, wallets have emerged as the default payment method as banks left gaps. Mila Bedrenets, Chief Growth Hacker at Tonik, highlighted the Philippines, where wallet usage has outstripped the banked adult population. GCash alone claims over 94 million users, exceeding even the country’s total adult population.

Cross-border QR payments are beginning to knit together fragmented systems. Lokesh Singh, head of Digital Payments at Thales, shared how his Singapore wallet works seamlessly in Malaysia and Thailand, thanks to linked QR networks. Regional initiatives like Singapore’s Nexus aim to deepen these connections, creating faster, cheaper remittance corridors in economies where such flows are vital.

Still, wallet proliferation has its downsides. Many users juggle multiple apps, and Singh believes consolidation is inevitable.

Behind the scenes, tokenization is quietly becoming central to APAC’s digital payments infrastructure. Once seen primarily as a security measure, it now underpins smoother, safer transactions. Visa has issued over 12.6 billion network tokens globally, a 44 percent jump in a single year.

Visa’s Senior Director of Product Management for Asia Pacific, Hunny Huria, said the company aims to tokenize all transactions by 2030. Tokenized payments enjoy higher approval rates, lower fraud, and eliminate the need to re-enter card details or deal with expired credentials. Singh described it as removing a layer of friction that users have long tolerated.

In Southeast Asia, where 67 percent of consumers still rely on SMS-based one-time passwords (OTPs), checkout friction is a persistent problem. Payment passkeys offer a solution by using device biometrics to authenticate transactions and eliminating OTPs while maintaining strong security.

With over 80 percent of smartphones now biometrics-enabled, the infrastructure for passkeys is largely in place. Huria noted that combining Click to Pay with passkeys could finally bridge the gap between security and convenience.

Despite the momentum, significant roadblocks remain. For merchants, integration costs can be prohibitive — especially for smaller businesses without dedicated tech teams. De added that rapid changes and complex troubleshooting often overwhelm lean operations.

Banks face their own hurdles. Singh observed that many issuers treat tokenization as a compliance requirement rather than a strategic opportunity. Legacy systems and limited understanding of business benefits slow innovation.

Asia’s digital payments ecosystem is vibrant but uneven. The technology is ready, and consumer appetite is strong. But successful implementation depends on how quickly each part of the ecosystem — banks, merchants, platforms and regulators — can align.

According to Worldpay, APAC is on track to surpass 1.2 trillion non-cash transactions by 2027, with digital wallets projected to account for nearly half of global e-commerce and point-of-sale transaction value that same year. The region’s mobile-first consumers, pragmatic merchants, and experimental regulators have created fertile ground for innovation. But beneath the momentum lies a complex web of wallets, QR schemes, tokens, and regulatory nuances.

The race is on to stitch together the region’s fragmented pieces into a cohesive, frictionless future. Whoever gets there first may well define the next chapter of global payments. The webinar “Redefining Payment Checkouts: The Road Ahead in APAC” is available here.

Article Topics

biometric authentication  |  biometrics  |  digital payments  |  passkeys  |  payment passkey  |  Visa