Mastercard has been testing a new biometric bankcard with embedded fingerprint reader in South Africa. Expansion of the testing to Europe and Asia Pacific is planned over the next few months, with a rollout to the United States expected by the end of 2017.
The new biometric bankcard is easy to use; one simply holds the card by the sensor and inserts it into the card reader. The biometric bankcard will work with existing payment terminals. As a back-up, if the card terminal has trouble reading the fingerprint, the user will be asked to enter a pin number after a slight delay.
Fingerprint biometrics add an additional layer of security. Pin numbers are often poorly chosen (1-2-3-4), forgotten, or easily observed and stolen. While there are 10,000 4-digit pin combinations, the probability of two people having a matching print is much smaller, 1 in 50,000.
Mastercard also plans to introduce a contactless version of its biometric bankcard. Contactless technology is currently widespread in Europe. While fast and convenient, it is less secure as there’s usually no authentication check. Because of this, purchases are limited in dollar amount.
Previously Mastercard rolled out its Mastercard Identity Check program, allowing technology enabled mobile users to authenticate purchases with iris scanning technology, commonly known as “Selfie Pay.”
MasterCard trials biometric bankcard with embedded fingerprint reader
Natasha Lomas, April 20, 2017, article for TechCrunch
Never forget your PIN again: Mastercard creates credit card with fingerprint scanner
James Titcomb, April 20, 2017, article for The Telepgraph, UK
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