Secure Technology Alliance Report Demystifies Biometric Payment Cards

In the past couple of years, biometric payment cards have emerged as an exciting, potentially transformative new trend in the payments industry. However, new technology can still be intimidating, especially for organizations that don’t understand how biometric payment cards are supposed to work.

That’s why the Secure Technology Alliance has released a report to educate retailers and card issuers about the benefits of biometric cards. The report is intended to serve as a resource for companies looking to learn more about biometric payment cards, from implementation and enrollment challenges to the functions of the various components that go into a typical card.

“Issuers today are looking at different ways of verifying cardholder presence that don’t impact consumer convenience,” said Randy Vanderhoof, the Executive Director of the Secure Technology Alliance. “Biometric technology solves that problem and doesn’t require retailers to make changes to their terminals.”

The report specifically focuses on cards that use fingerprint recognition technology. It was released by the Secure Technology Alliance Payments Council, a coalition of payment industry stakeholders that includes leading credit card companies like VISA, American Express, and MasterCard, as well as biometric card manufacturers like IDEMIA and Gemalto.

The broader goal is to encourage more organizations to adopt fingerprint authentication and smooth the transition biometric payment cards across multiple channels. 

(Originally posted on Mobile ID World)