Juniper: Biometrics Will Enable $3 Trillion in Payments by 2025

Juniper Research is predicting that the use of biometrics in the payments industry will skyrocket in the next few years. Biometric modalities were used to authorize $404 billion worth of payments in 2020, but that number will jump an astonishing 650 percent to $3 trillion by 2025.

The firm attributed much of that growth to the rising popularity of mobile payment apps, and in particular to apps like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay that come directly from equipment manufacturers. Those apps are designed to take advantage of the face and fingerprint authentication features built into modern smartphones, and can also leverage other modalities like iris and voice biometrics that have become more common in recent years.

With that in mind, Juniper argues that payment apps without biometric authentication will eventually lose ground to those that do, since the technology enables a more convenient user experience. However, stakeholders will need to find ways to make people more comfortable with the technology. While 95 percent of smartphones will have biometric capabilities by 2025, only 35 percent of those phones will be used to make a biometric transaction. That creates a significant market opportunity for apps that successfully convert a large number of customers.

The growing demand for contactless payment options will be another major driver of biometric payments. The number of contactless payments authorized with biometrics will go up 520 percent in the same forecast window, while mobile payment apps can be used to make both in-store and online eCommerce transactions.

“While biometrics are now an established part of the ecosystem, payments and eCommerce apps have not kept pace with the rate of innovation,” said research co-author Susan Morrow. “Merchants must adopt biometric capabilities rapidly and educate users to best secure the increasingly massive eCommerce market.”

Providers like FPC and IDEX Biometrics have consistently pushed contactless payment technologies as a public health solution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Juniper’s latest prediction is in line with a previous report that suggested that biometric technology would cover $2.5 trillion worth of payments on mobile devices by 2024.

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February 2, 2021 – by Eric Weiss