22 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019 PSP SHOWCASE Could a fingerprint or iris scan be the answer to consumer password fatigue? Perhaps. In China, several face-detecting technologies are being used to authorize payments, with the Alipay “Smile to Pay” mobile app among the most popular. Launched in 2017, the Alipay app scans a customer’s face at the point of sale and reportedly is successful in identifying the customer within seconds. Customers are asked to smile or otherwise move their faces as a security measure or “liveness” test that is employed to prevent fraudsters from attempting to trick the application with a photo. As an extra layer of precaution, customers also receive a second verification through their mobile devices. According to reports, the app has even been successful at identifying users when they attempted to fool it with wigs and heavy makeup. In the United States, the primary form of biometric authentication for payments presently relies on fingerprint scans. Today more than 70% of all new smartphones come equipped with fingerprint scanners, and popular payment apps like Apple Pay, Samsung and Google Pay have helped drive acceptance and adoption of this technology. What’s more, consumers have signaled that they want a frictionless and secure means to authenticate payments so that they don’t have to keep track of an ever-growing list of passwords and PINs. A study conducted by Visa confirmed this, with 86% of survey respondents stating that they were amenable to using biometrics to verify their identities when making payments. A Biometrics Boom? There is no doubt that password or PIN authentication is woefully outdated. Consumers simply can’t keep track of the number of passwords they are required to memorize, leading to reuse of the same password across multiple websites and shopping cart abandonment at the point of sale. Other “what I know” authentication information – such as an individual’s address, his or her mother’s maiden name, and other public records – are readily hosted on social media sites and sold and shared via the dark web. “What I am” is infinitely harder to replicate than “what I know” and may also offer the holy grail of customer convenience and data security. Scanning an iris or thumbprint on a mobile device creates less friction than answering multiple security questions or waiting for a verification code to be sent via text or email to gain access to an online account. Adoption Pathways and Considerations For community banks that are eager to adopt Are Biometrics the Future Of payments authentication? Alan Nevels Senior Vice President of Card Risk & Merchant Services ICBA Bancard alan.nevels@icba.org ICBA Bancard is a Preferred Service Provider of the Indiana Bankers Association.
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