SmartMetric Launches Biometric Security Solution for Credit and Debit Cards

SmartMetric has launched a biometric security solution for credit and debit cards.

The solution features biometric fingerprint recognition technology built into the card to recognize the cardholder and turn on the card’s EMV contact and contactless payment chip, SmartMetric said in a Tuesday (June 27) press release.

“We have created the next move forward in making credit and debit cards safer, by adding fingerprint recognition biometrics inside the card,” SmartMetric President and CEO Chaya Hendrick said in the release. “Only the card user’s fingerprint can turn the card on at a payments terminal or ATM, making the SmartMetric-created biometric credit and debit card immeasurably more secure for users and banks than today’s cards.”

The SmartMetric offering includes hardware-based detection of a live finger, guarding against fake fingerprint replicas, and can be configured to message payment networks that a biometric card is being used, according to the press release.

“When we first started on this biometric card journey, our first prototype was a half-inch thick,” Hendrick said. “We now have reduced the thickness of all of our electronics to less than a quarter thickness of a standard credit card.”

PYMNTS research has found that most modern consumers now see biometric tools as the most secure way to authenticate a transaction.

They are also the most preferred authentication method for more than half of U.S. consumers, according to “Consumer Authentication Preferences for Online Banking and Transactions,” a PYMNTS and Entersekt collaboration.

The report found that the growing preference for biometric tools is being driven in part by consumers accessing their bank accounts using smartphones, which provide biometric tools.

Some other companies have recently rolled out biometric tools as well.

On Friday (June 23), casual dining chain Steak ‘n Shake said it is deploying payments technology company PopID’s pay-by-face capabilities at select locations, with plans to expand it to 300 restaurants.

A month earlier, in May, smart ring developer Oura acquired digital identity signal platform Proxy in a bid to expand into payments and authentication. Oura said the combination will create new opportunities in payments, access, security and identity.