Mastercard announced the European roll out of Identity Check Mobile, a new payment technology application that uses biometrics like fingerprints or facial recognition to verify a cardholder’s identity, simplifying online shopping. The technology is now being introduced across 12 markets in Europe.
These markets include the UK, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden, following a series of successful trials in the Netherlands, the U.S., and Canada. The technology will be rolled out across the world in phases in 2017.
Typically, existing identity verification methods take shoppers away from a retailer’s website or mobile app where they are often required to remember and enter a password. The process can be time consuming and can result in a shopper abandoning their purchase or having the transaction declined if they enter their password incorrectly.
„Mastercard Identity Check Mobile eliminates the need for cardholders to recall passwords, dramatically speeding up the digital checkout experience while also improving security. Instead, the cardholder can verify their identity by using the fingerprint scanner on their smartphone or via facial recognition technology by taking a “selfie” photo”, the company says.
“We are relentlessly focused on making the online payment experience near frictionless, without making any compromises on safety and security,” said Ajay Bhalla, president of Enterprise Risk & Security, Mastercard. “This is a significant milestone in the evolution of payments. Shopping in person has been revolutionized thanks to advances like contactless cards, mobile payments and wearables, and now we are making Identity Check Mobile a reality for online shopping in Europe, and soon, the world.”
Mastercard unveiled the service in October 2015 when hundreds of cardholders in the Netherlands began to test biometric-enabled payments, alongside a similar pilot in the US. Ann Cairns, the payment network’s president for international markets, revealed that the tests had “gone like wildfire” when she spoke at Money20/20 Europe in Copenhagen earlier this year.
Source: MasterCard
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
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