Unlike traditional smartcards most people are familiar with, a biometric payment card is a credit or debit card that uses the holder’s fingerprint to verify the genuineness of one’s transaction. Biometric cards introduce a layer of security that is not available in the traditional cards, the biometric fingerprint identification card possesses more impressive features. Various data are stored in the card’s secure elements; such data include the template of the holder’s fingerprint, the personal account details, and matching engines that confirm that the fingerprint presented at payment is authentic. This card allows consumers to keep hold of their biometric data rather than a third party having access. If holders misplace their cards, their data remains safely encrypted in the secure elements, and anyone who comes across them cannot use them. Biometric cards ultimately put the challenge of fraud in check.
In this century, there is no doubt that cards are the most popular way to make payments across the world among digital consumers. Cash payment is beginning to phase out as more transactions are being digitally processed. However, even traditional cards are now being threatened as they may soon be replaced by biometrics which has been proved to be more reliable and secure. In biometrics, parts of the body such as fingerprint, eye, face or voice are used to verify someone’s identity, hence giving a better assurance of security.
The Potential Dominance of Biometrics
Biometric is beginning to dominate the mobile phone market as sixty percent of smartphones now have biometrics. Most phones of today require just the fingerprint of the users to get unlocked; thereby replacing such requirements like PIN or password.
The Defense Department, biometric companies and other government agencies believe that the addition of artificial intelligence is making behavioral biometrics more feasible.
Consumers who are already familiar with biometrics in the mobile world identify the value it can bring to securing authentication. However, making it happen solely depends on the choice of the payment ecosystem.
Biometric cards require no battery as their biometric sensors are powered by the energy from the terminal. The card can also be used with existing terminals designed for the traditional smart cards. Also, a biometric payment card can be globally used; a card issued by a bank in one country can be used to make safe payments in any other country.
How Biometric Cards Operate
The biometric card contains an ultra-thin, low-power fingerprint sensor. The card can be touched from any angle, thereby allowing fast and simple authentication. The production of biometric cards is simple and straightforward because the sensors are integrated using the existing production process.
With biometrics, remembering your PIN or password could be a thing of the past. One of the excellent benefits of biometric payment cards is that they are incredibly easy to use, and they offer a great mix of benefits for all, such as banks, retailers and consumers alike. The emergence of advanced technology like the biometric payment card will allow banks increase their status by showing they are at the cutting edge with impressive new technology. A more positive financial experience will benefit the consumer, while also helping banks to attract new customers and retain existing ones. Also, the introduction of biometrics does not come at a cost for retailers, as there is no need to upgrade their current POS terminals initially available for traditional smart cards.
The Biometric Advantage Over Traditional Smart Cards
PIN and password cards, or those requiring a signature, can present a level of challenge for a variety of people like illiterates, those who use different sets of numerals and people who struggle to remember their passwords or PIN codes. Biometric cards overcome all these challenges because the holders only need their fingerprints to prove their identities.
The demand for biometric cards is continuously on the rise world over. Most people prefer PIN-less payments, and so it has been posing severe threats for the survival of traditional smart cards which we are already familiar with, albeit tired of due to the security challenges often faced with them.
In many Asian countries, one of the essential attractions of a biometric card is the pride that comes with having the latest technology. The protection it offers against fraud in other areas makes it more desirable. By solving a key concern in most markets, biometric cards are a trusted method that doesn’t require a network connection.
The demand for biometrics has seen major card industries like Gemalto, Visa, Mastercard, and IDEMIA working to make it a mass market reality; in the end knocking the traditional smartcards off circulation.
