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The future of cards, contactless and biometrics in payments

March 2019 by Thomas Rex, SVP at Fingerprints

It’s an interesting time for the humble payment card. Card payments have steadily risen in the last two decades, but innovation of the card has slowed since the launch of contactless over ten years ago. Until, that is, the recent entrance of the biometric payment card.

But what’s the value in updating the card further? Contactless cards have gained
real traction in the last decade, especially in Europe. But with many markets across
the globe still to take the leap to contactless, and others already looking beyond
the card to mobile payments, how can we expect the card to continue to be a success?

Limitless convenience

Two major things concern consumers about contactless cards: security and
convenience. For those already happy ’tapping’ with contactless payment cards, the
transaction cap is cited as a major point of confusion and frustration. Global
limits for contactless card transactions differ per country, and remembering when
you can and can’t tap can be annoying.

But of course, the higher the cap you have, the bigger the security concerns. This
is where biometric payment cards come in. The beauty of biometrics is its one of the
few security measures that doesn’t harm convenience: a winning combination of the
frictionless contactless card UX with the trust of biometrics.

From current trial announcements, it’s evident that removing the payment cap is a
major priority for banks, too. Take Société Générale in
France
and the recent UK announcement from
NatWest
- both are using the pilots to trial saying ’goodbye’ to contactless transaction
limits.

Taking the leap

While contactless card adoption has been a huge success in Europe, it’s staggered
somewhat in regions still conducting their EMV® migration, such as Latin America and
the Middle East. That’s all about to change, however.

With big players like
Mastercard
and Visa now mandating all new cards and payment terminals issued must be
contactless-enabled, global growth of the technology is set to soar in the next few
years. This sets the perfect stage for biometric payment cards to thrive
internationally.

Banks still yet to incorporate contactless into their portfolio can now skip past
the teething problems of traditional contactless cards and jump straight to
delivering more secure and convenient biometric contactless cards. Plus, once
retailers have made the initial contactless upgrade to their terminal
infrastructure, no additional investment will be needed to accept these cards.

Keeping contactless cool

Added security may be the most obvious reason to upgrade contactless cards with
biometrics, but let’s not forget the ’cool’ factor! As banks try to keep pace with
innovative Fintechs, biometric payment cards can offer their customers a more
seamless UX, greater choice, and an exciting new form factor many will be keen to
get their hands on.

The future of biometrics in payments extends far beyond just biometric payment
cards, however. Offering the answer to the age-old digital finance conundrum of
delivering security and convenience to consumers, biometrics will continue to
increase its stake in the world of payments innovation in coming years. From
contactless cards, to wearables, USB dongles and beyond - the possibilities are
exciting and endless.


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