Mastercard said all consumers will be able to use biometric identification when they shop and pay by April of next year; banks offering Mastercard branded cards will have to have biometrics alongside the typical PIN and password; the company cited consumers preference for this type of authentication and new regulations like PSD2 in Europe; Mark Barnett, president, Mastercard UK and Ireland, tells Banking Technology: “It will make the purchase much smoother, and instead of having to remember passwords to authenticate, shoppers will have the chance to use a fingerprint or a picture of themselves.” Source.
With apologies to Marc Andreesson who famously said several years ago that software is eating the world, I think that...
French casino and hotel business, Groupe Partouche, has partnered with MeReal Biometrics for use of the company's smart cards; the smart cards from MeReal Biometrics are a featured product at the Web Summit this week; employees of Groupe Partouche will begin using the fingerprint identity cards in select locations and expansion is expected to more locations and guests if successful. Source
As rigid, password-based systems lead to more security breaches, they are quickly replaced by real-time biometrics, leading to a passwordless future.
Amazon is currently in the early stages of building a new checkout terminal for coffee shops, fast-food restaurants and other...
India has fast become one of the world's most interesting fintech markets; at LendIt USA 2017 we hosted a fireside chat focused on digital credit for the India population and how their biometric Aadhaar system plays a key role; a few key developments have helped the India population, the ease of acquiring a smartphone and the Aadhaar system; Aadhaar started with an investment by the India government eight years ago and today there is one billion Indians who have an Aadhaar number with key identifiable pieces of information; the government then began linking Aadhaar with the banking system and enlisted fintech firms to begin extending microloans to individuals and SMEs; Aadhaar helps to solve the biggest issue with lending, KYC, by using a retina scan or biometric signature to verify the borrower; the fireside chat also talked through how the lending process worked with Aadhaar and how it has helped to extend credit to a segment of the population that only a few years ago was unable to access capital. Source
According to Hong Kong regulatory officials, two banks have applied to trial biometric technology under a recent fintech sandbox initiative; Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Norman Chan notes that the companies want to use biometrics to authenticate securities trading; the fintech sandbox was launched in September; other banks are considering utilizing the sandbox for other areas such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Source
Ant Financial has rolled out the world's first commercial application of a payment system that identifies payers using facial recognition technology; starting from September 1, a KFC restaurant in Hangzhou allows customers to authenticate their payments by having their faces scanned; the whole process, which takes about ten seconds, does not require users to take out their cell phones; the function is powered by Face ++ technology developed by Beijing startup Megvii. Source
FST Biometrics has raised $40 million and is developing a solution for facial recognition that detects your identity while you are in motion; the biometric technology presents a new solution for security identification; by detecting your identity it can be used to unlock doors and provide various other types of security access. Source