Thursday, May 19, 2022
The program outlines standards for banks, merchants and technology companies to adhere to in order to ensure security and privacy of personal data when consumers pay biometrically.
Mastercard said it is working with a half dozen technology partners to advance biometric payments, including the Brazilian startup Payface. The two companies have begun piloting Payface's facial recognition technology to support Mastercard payments at the Brazilian supermarket chain St. Marche.
Consumers enroll, in store or at home, through a St. Marche or Payface app, providing credit and debit card account information and a photo. Once enrolled, all they need to do at checkout is simply smile into a camera to initiate payment.
Mastercard said it will also pilot hand geometry recognition biometrics; in this scenario consumers authorize payments by waving their hands over a special scanner.
Research by the French technology firm IDEMIA suggests nearly three in four (74 percent) of consumers globally have positive attitudes toward biometric technology. Younger consumers and those in emerging economies are even more accepting. Eighty-one percent of those consumers are ready to use fingerprints in lieu of PINs, according to IDEMIA.
Contactless payments have surged since the onset of COVID-19. In 2020, Mastercard reported that nearly half of global consumers had swapped out their former top-of-wallet card for one that supports contactless payments. Visa reported that it saw a 30 percent jump in tap-to-pay transactions between March 2020 and March 2021, while Mastercard said roughly half of all in-person Mastercard transactions were contactless in the final quarter of 2021.
"The way we pay needs to keep pace with the way we live, work and do business, offering choice to consumers with the highest level of security," said Ajay Bhalla, Mastercard president for cyber and intelligence.
Mastercard described Biometric Checkout as its next step in support of the evolution of payments. Back in 2020 Mastercard introduced a new suite of frictionless payment solutions dubbed Shop Anywhere, supported by AI and computer vision technology partner Accel Robotics, for checkout-free experiences at convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.
Then in 2021, Mastercard rolled out an app called Tap on Phone that allows merchants to accept contactless payments using their smartphones. Visa offers a similar app, which it calls Tap to Phone.
Visa also has been quietly testing fingerprint recognition as an alternative to PIN or signature authentication of cardholders under a program it calls Visa Ready for Biometrics. In that program, consumers enroll their fingerprints, which get securely stored in their cards. At checkout, the consumer places a finger on a sensor built into the card; a green light flashes on the card to indicate the consumer is who they say they are. 
The Green Sheet Inc. is now a proud affiliate of Bankcard Life, a premier community that provides industry-leading training and resources for payment professionals. Click here for more information.
Notice to readers: These are archived articles. Contact names or information may be out of date. We regret any inconvenience.
