Thales, FPC Announce Mastercard Certification for Biometric Payment Card

Thales‘ biometric payment card has received certification from Mastercard, the company has announced.

At the time of writing, details about the certification in question remain sparse. Thales’ achievement was announced by its subsidiary Gemalto in a tweet asserting that its card is the first contactless biometric payment card to receive the Mastercard certification. In a short statement issued shortly thereafter, Sweden-based fingerprint sensor specialist Fingerprint Cards announced that its technology – including the T-Shape sensor module and its biometric software platform – is being used in the solution.

“Fingerprints is proud to support its partner Thales as they become the first company to offer a certified contactless biometric payment card,” the company said.

The companies collaborative efforts became clear in October, when they announced that Fingerprint Cards technology was being used in a high-profile trial of a Gemalto biometric payment card conducted by the British bank NatWest. The card in question was a Mastercard credit card with a built-in fingerprint sensor, allowing users to easily authenticate during a contactless transaction.

News of the latest Mastercard certification comes alongside Fingerprint Cards’ announcement that it its sensor module and software platform had both passed accuracy and security tests conducted by a major regulatory authority based in China, further paving the way toward large-scale rollouts of the technology.

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January 9, 2020 – by Alex Perala