The following report is by Jean-Philippe Niedergang, Group CCO – EMEA CEO of Castles Technology, via Biometric Update:
The use of biometrics as an identification tool is not new; it dates back to ancient times when fingerprints were used as signatures and seals. Application in payment technology is what makes it revolutionary. However, there is a gap between expectations and reality.
Since 2010, there has been an acceleration in this trend, primarily in the use of smartphones, while the fintech sector is still in the testing phases today. Although skepticism is strong in France, some players have already started to innovate in this field.
Biometrics At The Service Of Innovation
The use of fingerprints as a means of verification on smartphones has encouraged the development of biometrics in fintech. According to a survey conducted by Visa , 79 percent of French people trust biometrics as a secure means of authentication, and according to the Groupement des Cartes Bancaires (CB), 52 percent of French people would prefer to use their fingerprint instead of their PIN code.
With a biometric card, it is enough to place a finger on it to validate a transaction without a limit as long as it is pre-authorized. Because, today, the card’s biometric data are stored securely on the chip, rather than sent to the banking servers, or communicated to the merchants.
The Future Of Payment
Facial recognition, fingerprints, eye scans, and handprints are some of the innovations expected in the payment market.
According to a study by Dentsu Data Lab, conducted in 14 countries in 2021, 81 percent of respondents would be willing to use fingerprints instead of PIN codes. This innovation could improve the customer experience, which is today a continuous challenge for merchants.
By using a totally personal and irreplaceable mechanism, biometric payment will significantly reduce fraud at points of sale and allow for greater efficiency in the automated payment process by reducing waiting times for customers.
If today, mobile wallets in their various forms are a trend, the arrival of biometric payment terminals constitutes a real disruptive innovation in the market. However, the development of this type of technology does not only concern payment terminal providers but also banks.
A Future Full Of Challenges
Biometrics face three challenges: cost, security, and data storage.
It is clear that the biometric card incurs an additional cost for the consumer, in terms of price, but there is also a cost for the merchant due to the transformation of payment terminals.
From a security standpoint, this form of verification is much harder to hack than a four-digit code. However, the risk that irreplaceable biometric information could be obtained by hackers raises doubts among consumers.
The storage of this encrypted information raises questions in the evolution of biometric payments. Who should be responsible for ensuring the security of biometric information, the bank or the payment terminal provider? This issue largely depends on the trust of the users.
The contactless biometric payment card is currently the only biometric payment method on the market, but its evolution towards other formats such as the pattern of veins on a hand or facial recognition is expected to be the next step. The biometric technology already used in smartphones and its level of acceptance show that the consumer market is ready to engage in this new innovative era in the financial sector. It is undeniable that biometric technology brings safer identification and an improvement in the customer experience to the payment sector.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Admittedly this report is a bit of a ‘no-duh,’ but I still felt it was worth highlighting. The World is clearly and unmistakably going that direction; all digital, all artificial, all biometric, all tracked, all surveillance; and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The days of physical tender are winding to close, whether its paper fiat and or precious metals, that system will soon no longer be applicable.
Of course, this next step, this so-called “4th industrial revolution” and “great reset” will be a complete disaster intentionally, as out of the midst of the chaos this creates it will be used as the proxy to justify the real mark of the beast system. Right now this is just the next necessary building block.
[16] And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: [17] And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. [18] Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six. Revelation 13:16-18
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Genesis 3:1
“Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”
King James Version (KJV)
Slippery slope, indeed. People with get to the point and go, ‘oh, why not’? BOOM! Chip is in their body – and, they’ll say . . . ‘your (whatever, money, identity, etc.) can’t be stolen this way!
I hope we are out of here so we don’t have to make the choice to go along with the world. It’s actually not a choice, you either agree to it or you don’t get your money or transactions completed. It is just a closer step to the AC taking over. His job is being done for him until he arrives.