Payments provider AirPlus is testing a biometric corporate
card for which users can use a fingerprint rather than a PIN at checkout,
AirPlus head of research and development Uli Danz told BTN. The product is
supplied by Swedish biometrics company Fingerprint Cards, which incorporates
software from Swedish fingerprint software company Precise Biometrics and cards
from South Korean financial technology company Kona I. Fingerprint Cards
provides the fingerprint sensor and packages the card as a finished product.
Whether chip or contactless, the card comes with a visible,
embedded sensor that authenticates a user via a fingerprint. The biometrics
data is stored only on the card. Unlike smart card products like Center
or Coin, which have to be charged, the AirPlus card charges itself every time
it comes in contact with a terminal. "This energy is enough to serve the fingerprint
reader," Danz said.
The card may not be available to clients for a while
because, as Danz told BTN, "In the credit card business there are a lot of
rules, and the rules are not yet set for biometrics or fingerprints on
card."
Such rules may determine whether a fingerprint is needed to
authenticate every transaction or only transactions over a certain amount, as
with some contactless cards. Danz hopes the networks will require fingerprint
authorization for every transaction, as PIN cards do, because users could feel secure
that a charge won't happen accidentally, without their authorization. "It
would give you a good feeling, even for smaller amounts," he said.
In 2016, BMO and MasterCard incorporated biometric
authentication via either a fingerprint or photographs of themselves, depending
on a phone's capability. The offering was meant for risky transactions or transactions
that fall outside a user's typical spending pattern.
Usability
AirPlus began a three-month internal pilot for the card on
Sept. 14. Danz said the first tests have been successful. After the pilot is
complete and the card networks set rules for biometrics authorization, "there's
no technological obstacle to prohibit us from distributing [the cards] in
countries where we already issue corporate cards," he said. He declined to
estimate how long it could take the networks to set the rules but hopes it will
not be as long as for mobile payments.
As the cards would be more expensive to produce, pricing and
distribution will depend on demand.
He anticipates demand will be less in markets like China,
where mobile payments are "quite advanced" thanks to apps like
WeChat, which facilitates mobile payments in-app and through quick response codes,
and payment company Alipay. "When everyone is paying via QR code through
mobile, is there a space for such biometrics technology on a plastic card?
Probably not," Danz said. "Perhaps we are behind in the U.S. and
Europe, but let's be honest: There will be cards out there for the next 10
years for sure. "We're at a point where we can say, 'There is a further option
and it's quite convenient, so let's see where it goes.'"