Fime’s laboratory in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region has received EMVCo recognition for the evaluation of fingerprint biometric sensors, enabling it to test payment card components against the EMV Biometric Card Specification.
The recognition allows Fime to assess fingerprint sensors across three core criteria: reliability, liveness detection, and user convenience. The testing capability supports banks, card manufacturers, and biometric technology providers in validating that their solutions meet global industry standards before deployment. As biometric payment cards move from pilot programs into large-scale commercial rollouts, independent testing against a recognized specification becomes a key step in bringing products to market.
“Biometrics are reshaping the future of secure payments,” said Noël Catherine, SVP of services at Fime. “This recognition expands our ability to support the ecosystem as biometric cards scale globally. Our mission is to help innovators bring secure, trusted solutions to market faster.”
Biometric payment cards embed a fingerprint sensor directly into the card body, allowing contactless payments to be authenticated by the cardholder’s fingerprint without requiring a PIN. The design combines the speed of tap-to-pay with on-card biometric verification, keeping the fingerprint template stored on the card itself rather than on a remote server. That architecture has made biometric cards an attractive option for payment networks and issuers looking to strengthen card security while reducing friction at the point of sale. Japan saw its first biometric payment card launch earlier this year, a sign of the technology’s expanding commercial footprint.
EMVCo, the technical body jointly owned by major global payment networks, published the biometric card specification to establish interoperability and security requirements as the technology scales toward mainstream adoption. Recognition from EMVCo means Fime’s lab is authorized to conduct formal evaluations that carry weight with issuers and card schemes seeking standards-conformant products.
Fime has been expanding its digital identity testing work beyond Europe, including participation in U.S. mobile driver’s licence pilots, and has built out NFC testing infrastructure in China through a partnership with CAICT. The company has supported biometric technologies since 2017, providing functional and security testing for sensors, biometric components, and authenticator devices across a range of use cases. The new EMVCo recognition extends that work into the specific requirements of the biometric payment card segment.
Sources: Fime, SecurityBrief Australia
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By the ID Tech Editorial Team
