You may have already heard about it in an article or seen an example in a movie, but biometric payment is no longer a fiction and will very soon change our daily life.
WHAT IS BIOMETRIC PAYMENT?
That's actually a good question. Many people have already heard of it and can even give some examples. But what is biometric payment? It is a group of different techniques that allow the recognition and identification of a person through their physical and biological characteristics.
In simple terms, it is a payment method that allows you to make a purchase by recognizing your fingerprints, for example. When you put it that way, it may sound a little crazy. But it's a reality.
Besides fingerprint recognition, there are other ways to identify a person. These can include facial recognition, iris analysis, voice recognition, or even the way you walk.
But before you can use your fingerprints or anything else to make a purchase, you must first set up the biometric data, which means enrolling your so-called fingerprints or scanning your iris. This is a very simple step, very fast and many have already done it.
Indeed, nowadays, many of us use our fingerprints or even our face to unlock our smartphones. So, when you make a payment with your smartphone and you have to identify yourself with your fingerprint, you have in a way made a biometric payment.
This example shows that these gestures are already part of our daily lives. All that's left is for technology to take full ownership of this payment method. And you may be surprised to learn that this technology has already started to be installed at your merchants.
HOW FAR ALONG ARE WE?
Many consumers have already made some semblance of biometric payment via smartphone payment. But one of the next steps that is already being rolled out is to use your fingerprints to pay by card. In other words, when you use your bank card, the code you normally have to enter will be replaced by you.
Payment terminals can be equipped with a fingerprint reader, but right now, with the health crisis and barrier gestures, some people will surely be reluctant to touch a device handled by others.
Don't worry, the alternative solution already exists. Instead of having a fingerprint reader on the payment terminal, the reader would be directly integrated into the card. Banks are currently working on commercializing cards using this technology, and they should be on the market very soon (Update: some banks have already started to commercialize this type of card).
Another technology being deployed is facial recognition. In Moscow, supermarkets have already started to be equipped. Here, you don't even have to show your bank card, you just have to face a camera to be identified. Still in the test phase for the moment, this system should be extended to 3,000 stores. In China, this technology is already widely used.
BIOMETRIC PAYMENT, THE NEW ELDORADO?
With this technology, consumers will be able to make payments faster and more securely. Indeed, a face or a fingerprint is much more difficult to steal than a 4-digit code.
Security is one of the major arguments for biometric payments. But there is no such thing as zero risk and it is important to offer a high level of security. And this should not only concern the transactions carried out but also the recorded data.
Indeed, as previously mentioned, to access the biometric payment, one must register his fingerprints, his face, or others. Thus, banks or companies that collect this data will have to prove that they are properly protected.
For both consumers and merchants, the security and protection of biometric data is a major concern. This is why in France, merchants who wish to offer biometric payment must obtain authorization from the CNIL, the French National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties.
The desire to strengthen the security of payment transactions must be accompanied by a high level of data security. This represents a double challenge that companies must take into account.
Today, Market Pay already ensures compliance with payment security standards, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS).
In the future, we will offer more and more varied and innovative solutions to provide merchants with better services for the in-store and e-commerce experience.
Habits will change and evolve, and new needs will emerge. This is an area full of challenges and opportunities that Market Pay will not hesitate to work on in order to accompany the deployment of new solutions by being close to the merchants.
