FPC Observes the Return of the Card at Money20/20 Asia

Out with the new, in with the old – payment cards are making a comeback. That’s one of Money20/20 Asia’s key takeaways, according to Fingerprint Cards Global Product Marketing Director Lina Andolf-Orup.

Writing on her company’s website, Andolf-Orup suggests that enthusiasm for mobile payments may be slowing, with one panel at the event going so far as to tackle “whether mobile payments were dead, with slow adoption rates outside of China.” That’s highly speculative, of course, since the major mPayment platform providers have so far avoided sharing detailed performance data. But it is increasingly clear that payment cards are, as Andolf-Orup says, “in vogue again and issuance figures are continuing to rise across Asia.”

While Andolf-Orup highlights a sleek new metal payment card designed for cryptocurrency compatibility, a lot of the excitement in payment cards today revolves around something Fingerprint Cards is deeply involved in – fingerprint scanning cards. Both Mastercard and Visa have organized major trials of this technology, and with their partners they seem to be racing to bring this technology to the mass market.

And the excitement around biometric payment cards of course reflects the broader excitement around biometrics in general, with the technology having enjoyed a “prolific” presence at Money20/20 Asia. Andolf-Orup notes that while biometric technology has long been a hot topic at other Money20/20 events, in Singapore “it was evident that biometrics have quickly become favored by consumers – a symbol of convenience, cool and security – and they are moving beyond smartphones.”

Source: Fingerprint Cards

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March 23, 2018 – by Alex Perala