Zwipe Provides Biometric Tech for Australian Card Manufacturer

One of Australia’s biggest card manufacturers is teaming up with Zwipe to deliver biometric cards. Placard already delivers more than 100 million cards on an annual basis.

In terms of utility, Placard expressed particular interest in the Zwipe Pay platform, which will be deployed in next-generation biometric payment cards. However, the company is active in a number of different sectors, and eventually hopes to use biometric technologies to strengthen card security across its entire portfolio, which includes government identification cards and loyalty cards for retail and hospitality programs.

Having said that, biometric payment cards will still be the first point of focus for the company. Placard’s cards are certified for use with every major card scheme, and it is hoping to move forward with its first pilots with card issuers in the second quarter of the year. It will then proceed with the commercial rollout of biometric payment cards if those trials go well. In addition to providing the biometric technology, Zwipe will provide ongoing technical support services and business advice to help Placard refine its go-to-market strategy.

“The biometric solution provided by Zwipe is the ideal platform for the next generation of payment cards,” said Placard Sales & Marketing GM Tess Barone. “We believe that highly secure touch-less payments and PIN-free cards create a very compelling proposition for consumers and that our collaboration with Zwipe will provide differentiation and meaningful commercial value to our customers.”

“There is a clear growing interest in biometric payment cards globally and Placard will be vital in accelerating the deployment of biometric payment cards to banks and consumers,” added Zwipe CEO André Løvestam. “Zwipe will be supporting Placard’s clients during their launch processes to ensure the best customer experience and successful commercialization.”

Zwipe believes that 2022 will be a breakthrough year for biometric payment cards, and has already partnered with India’s sKarn RoboticS, Malaysia’s Modularsoft, and the Central Bank of Iraq in the past two months alone. Placard, meanwhile, was acquired by HID Global back in 2019.

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March 2, 2022 – by Eric Weiss