Visa and Keyno Deploy Tap-Based Identity Verification with Bahamas’ Fidelity Bank

Visa has launched Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate with Keyno and Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited, using the physical Visa card as an authentication factor inside the bank’s mobile app.

The deployment lets cardholders tap their Visa card to a mobile device to confirm card possession for high-risk account actions or activate a new card. Visa said the system uses EMV chip cryptography and its Chip Authenticate service to validate card data in real time through VisaNet, replacing workflows that often depend on one-time passcodes, call-center checks, or manual activation codes.

Tap to Confirm is designed for actions such as password changes, account-limit changes, mailing-address updates, and high-value transfers. Tap to Activate is aimed at card issuance, allowing a customer to activate a newly received card through a tap inside the issuer’s app. For the initial rollout, the features are available through Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited’s FIDSECURE mobile app using Keyno’s technology.

Visa has been expanding authentication models around account security and digital commerce, including trusted agent transactions and other methods that bind payments activity to stronger identity signals. The new deployment extends that approach into cardholder verification by turning the EMV chip into a reusable credential for issuer-side authentication.

Visa said the Fidelity launch is the first commercial deployment of the Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate use cases for issuing banks, with broader expansion planned during 2026. Keyno provides secure digital card technology, including dynamic CVV and issuer authentication tools, while Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited is serving as the first live bank deployment.

The deployment also shows how card networks are adapting existing payment-security infrastructure for identity assurance. Instead of treating the payment card only as a credential for purchases, the issuer can use the same chip-based trust model to confirm that a user is in possession of the card during sensitive account actions. That gives banks another option between low-friction app approval and higher-friction call-center verification.

Sources: Visa

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By Cass Kennedy