Payments News
Mastercard, BMO bring biometric payment technology to North America TORONTO -- Mastercard began the North American rollout of Identity Check Mobile, a new payment technology application that uses biometrics, including fingerprint and facial recognition, to verify a cardholder’s identity and simplify online shopping. BMO Financial Group (BMO) will be the first bank in the U.S. and Canada to offer Identity Check Mobile to its corporate customers starting in the first half of 2017. The rollout of Identity Check Mobile follows a successful soft launch that Mastercard and BMO tested earlier this year. The post-soft launch survey of BMO biometric program participants found: • Three of every four (74 per cent) of participants strongly agree that biometrics are easier to use than passwords. • Nine out of 10 participants anticipate using biometrics for online payment security in the future. “The pilot tested the potential of delivering
greater security and convenience using biometric technology. Our goals were to understand the attitudes and perceptions of our participants toward biometrics as an online payment security solution,” said Steve Pedersen, vice president, head, North American Corporate Card Products at BMO. “After using Identity Check Mobile, our program participants gave strong reviews on biometric security and ease of use, especially as compared with passwords. We are looking forward to bringing this same experience to our clients in 2017.” Existing BMO commercial customers who optin to using Identity Check Mobile will use an app provided by BMO and Mastercard to verify their online purchases. While shopping the cardholder will be notified instantly by the app when he or she needs to verify an online purchase by swiping a fingerprint or snapping a selfie photo. Often, existing identity verification methods take shoppers away from a retailer’s website or
mobile app where a password is required. The process can be time consuming and can result in a shopper abandoning his/her purchase or having the transaction declined if the password is incorrect. Mastercard Identity Check Mobile minimizes the need for passwords, dramatically speeding the digital checkout process while also improving security. A cardholder can verify his/ her identity by using the fingerprint scanner or facial recognition technology (aka taking a selfie photo) on his/her smart phone with the Identity Check app. The U.S. and Canada availability of Identity Check Mobile follows the recent European rollout across 12 markets, including: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the U.K. The technology will continue to be made available worldwide in phased rollouts throughout 2017.
Securing Mobile Life. Creating Confidence. Giesecke & Devrient offers a comprehensive range of secure payment products and solutions based on the latest EMV, Mobile and Cloud technologies. The G&D solutions portfolio includes state-of-the-art operating systems for secure elements and payment applications for m-commerce and transit. G&D provides personalization services, system integration, project management and technical consulting from a single trusted source. www.gi-de.ca
November/December 2016
PAYMENTSBUSINESS
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