The Financial ID Briefing brings you top highlights from the world of biometrics, mobile ID and finance. It is powered by FindBiometrics and Money20/20.
LG Pay Launches in South Korea
After years of speculation and waiting, a new mobile payments platform entered the pay-with-your phone market in South Korea last week. LG Pay, the long-rumored mobile wallet from LG Electronics officially launched in its home market along with support from BC, KB, Lotte, and Shinhan banks.
While the mobile wallet wars have generally revolved around three major global players—Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay—LG’s solution has a few distinct advantages. LG Pay leverages fingerprint biometric security for transaction authentication, and boasts technology similar to the MST feature used on Samsung Pay, allowing it to be used on old-gen card readers that don’t support NFC tap payments.
Still, despite its advantages, LG Pay has a lot of catching up to do before it can truly enter the mCommerce fray. As Mobile ID World’s Alex Perala pointed out, “Given that LG Pay is currently available through only one device and in one country, with no official plans to expand it internationally, it can’t yet be considered a serious competitor in the overall mPayments market.”
Biometric Convenience Brings Money2India
Biometric security is protecting international money transfers thanks to a new mobile app from India’s ICICI Bank called Money2India. The app is targeted at non-resident Indians (NRIs) who need to make overseas remittance transfers. Biometric authentication is available on both iOS and Android versions of Money2India, and is being deployed primarily for its convenience, as ICICI is promoting the app as an example of its commitment to superior customer experience.
“We see large number of our customers today transacting through our digital channels,” said Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank. “The Money2India website and mobile app have been significantly enhanced to provide ease of sending money to India. It allows registered NRI customers to transfer money to India in just 3 clicks if it is frequently transferred.”
While the biometric login feature is optional, simple finger-scanning security is clearly in line with Kochhar’s three-click example of convenience.
Naked Payments Are Coming To The Middle East
A partnership between Eazy Financial Services and NCR Corporation is heralding the advent of naked payments—paying with only biometrics—in the Middle East. According to a statement announcing the partnership, the aim is to create a biometric payment network that authenticates payments with the touch of a user’s finger.
Commenting on the project in a statement issued last week, Eazy Financial Services CEO Khaled Al Ahli said, “We are looking to NCR to help us build a robust infrastructure through its hardware and software expertise, in order to upgrade ATMs and other access-points to enable them to accept and read fingerprints and process necessary data to perform financial transactions.”
Since a naked payment system demands an overhauled infrastructure with biometrics integrated into myriad customer contact points, the pay-with-just-biometrics paradigm has not yet taken off on the massive scale we’re seeing in mobile payments, but a number of partnerships, trials, and pilot projects around the globe are starting to lay the foundation for this next generation of ID-based finance.
Follow Us