Fingerprint Cards (FPC) is continuing to make the case for biometric payment cards in the latest episode of its On the Pulse YouTube series. In the episode, FPC SVP Michel Roig – who acts as the head of the company’s Payment and Access Business Line – noted that there are no more barriers to biometric card adoption, since Mastercard has already cleared the company’s fingerprint technology for use in international payment schemes.
With that in mind, Roig argued that banks should act quickly to bring biometric payment cards to the public. Such cards can help banks comply with the latest PSD2 requirements for strong customer authentication, and can also generate new revenue streams. An FPC study found that many people would be willing to switch banks to obtain a biometric payment card, and that they would even be willing to pay for the service.
By the same token, FPC Marketing and Communications Head Lina Andolf-Orup observed that the appeal of biometric cards extends across all demographics. Early adopters are more openly enthusiastic, but the cards are user-friendly, and therefore do not alienate older and less tech-savvy populations that are primarily interested in security and convenience.
Andolf-Orup went on to note that consumers have become more interested in contactless solutions in the wake of COVID-19. Seventy-seven percent now use a contactless card at least once a week, and 63 percent want to use their card even more moving forward.
The problem is that half (51 percent) of consumers are still worried about contactless card security, and expressed frustration about low or confusing contactless payment caps. They are also concerned about hygiene, with roughly a third indicating that they were now afraid to enter a PIN using a shared payment terminal.
Thankfully, biometric payment cards offer a solution to all of those problems. FPC is now hoping that more banks will follow in the footsteps of BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole, both of which released commercial biometric payment cards in France earlier in the year.
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June 2, 2021 – by Eric Weiss
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