First Biometric Payment Cards by IDEMIA Hit the Market

Thursday, July 29th, 2021

Over the past decade, safety has been a hot topic in the payments industry. Consumers are worried about it. Businesses are worried about it. Everyone is worried about keeping their personal information safe from increasingly creative cyber attackers. 

Fast forward to today, there’s more transactions taking place online than ever before. Due to fears over contracting the coronavirus, more and more consumers are turning to contactless payment methods, creating a whole new wave of safety concerns. To combat this, fingerprint authentication is moving from phones to payment cards.

IDEX Rolls Out New Biometric Card

In April, IDEX ASA introduced the first biometric payment cards based on the Idex TrustBio fingerprint sensor. According to the announcement, this is “the most highly integrated biometric payment card solution in the industry today”. 

“We are excited to see our customer and partner, IDEMIA, begin to market cards based on our third generation sensor family, TrustedBio. This product introduction represents a major milestone for both partners and raises the bar for efficient biometric card architecture.” said Idex CEO, Vince Graziani.

For the past 6 months, IDEX and Embedx have worked closely in a strategic partnership to bring the technlogy to demonstration at key Exhibitions and Conferences. These new cards ultimately test the use of fingerprint recognitions as an alternative to PIN or signature for authentication. 

How Biometric Card Process Works

So, how do these biometric cards work? The process starts when the cardholder enrolls the fingerprint. This detail is securely stored on the card. When the cardholder places their finger on the card during a transaction, the card automatically senses whether the scanned print is the same as the print previously stored in the card. If it is accepted, a green light on the card will pop up. If it is not, it will flash red.

The Advantages of Using Biometic Payment Cards

There are several benefits to using biometric payment cards, including:

• • Greater security. Since the fingerprint is only stored on the card, it significantly increases the safety around the cardholder’s data.
  • Less Hardware Updgrades. The biometric card is designed to be compatible with existing payment terminals that accept both contactless- or chip-based payments.
  • Self-sufficiency. The biometric sensor is powered by the payment terminal, making embedded batteries unnecessary.

Where to Find the Latest Payment Processing Solutions

If your business is considering offering more options and incorporating new technologies, keep in mind the payment processor you partner with plays a huge role in the success of your efforts. Make sure they understand your business type and industry and emerging consumer trends. If you’re struggling to find the right provider, you can easily browse and compare providers via bestpaymentproviders.com.