Samsung and MasterCard teamed up to develop biometric credit cards, hoping to reduce the risk of infection
Samsung (Samsung) announced on the 4th that Samsung and Mastercard will formally cooperate to develop a credit card with a built-in fingerprint scanning module. These so-called "biometric cards" will be integrated with Samsung's "several key independent chips" and are intended to be compatible with point-of-sale (POS) terminal devices or any terminal devices that currently accept Mastercard chips for payment.
MasterCard has been experimenting with biometric technology ideas since 2017 when it announced that it sounds like a pilot test for biometric cards. This experimental card allows customers to place their thumbs on the card's embedded chip to verify the payment. If someone's PIN matches the card fingerprint, the payment is approved.
The new cooperation plan between Samsung and MasterCard completely cancels the PIN code. According to the announcement, users only need to place their thumbs on a chip embedded in the card to verify the payment. The plan is to achieve a safer interaction through fewer physical contact points, even without the hassle of touching the nauseous PIN code input keyboard that many people have touched.
On the one hand, using these systems means that users trust MasterCard to ensure the security of biometric data. In view of the well-known leaks of biometric data in the past few years, this may still be an unacceptable solution for some MasterCard customers. But on the other hand, for those who want to adopt a contactless payment method, even taking these security risks is worth it.
Although there is little evidence that surface contact (such as the contact between the finger and the PIN code input keyboard) has a substantial effect on the spread of Covid-19, concerns about the possibility of contaminated surfaces have led many people to switch from using cash to pay Contactless payment methods, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. As others have pointed out, the popularity of cashless payments like credit cards in the United States may not disappear anytime soon. Some researchers predict that the total value of the contactless transaction market will surge from $178 billion in 2020 to 1.5 trillion in 2024. US dollars.
It is expected that Samsung will gradually launch new biometric cards in South Korea later this year. So far, it is not clear whether these cards will be launched in other markets.