Biometrics in Payment – New SPA Analysis and Position Paper – May 2018
The recent announcements of several EMV biometric payment card for both contact and contactless payments launches and pilots illustrate how issuers around the world are preparing to seize the opportunities offered by biometric-enabled payment cards.
In its Biometrics in Payment paper, the SPA evaluates how next generation EMV biometric cards, which combine chip technology with fingerprints to conveniently and safely verify the cardholder’s identity, deliver additional convenience and security for consumers and merchants.
Biometric personalization of EMV cards also paves the way for issuers to securely enable high value contactless payments that break today’s €30 threshold barrier.
Providing an in-depth review of how biometric systems work on smart payment cards, the paper sets out the top security considerations related to biometric card personalization and offers a detailed analysis of how sensor-on-card authentication represents the most secure approach for the implementation of verification in payment cards.
Bringing identity and payment together, SPA reviews how the addition of biometric functionality to EMV cards will simplify consumer-merchant payments, drive financial inclusion in markets like Africa, South America and the Indian sub-continent and allows for the secure distribution of government welfare payments.
Alongside setting out the benefits for consumers and issuers of authenticating a payment transaction biometrically, utilizing cards that are compatible with existing EMV card terminal infrastructures, SPA provides guidance on design considerations relating to the underlying enrolment subsystems and cardholder enrolment programs to ensure these are robust, reliable and efficient.
