Biometrics

Voice authentication software has improved call center service at Virginia Credit Union and shortened call times by nearly 25 percent.

The problem is that, like usernames and passwords, biometrics are a static form of identity that can be exploited rather than a dynamic method that's of little use to crooks if stolen.

Behavioral biometrics are attractive because they are easy to implement, hard for criminals to spoof and not subject to the same privacy protections applied to thumbprints or retina scans.

The speed at which money transfer payments are evolving from legacy, paper-based systems to digital platforms couldn’t be more stark at Western Union, where Sheri Rhodes has just been named executive vice president and chief technology officer.

BBVA has started testing a facial recognition payment application for employees to use at cafeterias and restaurants at the Ciudad BBVA office and business conference complex in Madrid.

While building consumer trust in these new payments methods will undoubtedly take time, the possibility of freeing consumers from physical payment objects — cash, cards, phones — would be transformative, writes Beatta McInerney, business development manager for payments at ScanSource.

How do you get to the top of the payments stack at one of the nation’s preeminent digital-forward banks? You reach for every challenging opportunity you see, according to Reetika Grewal, head of payments strategy and solutions at Silicon Valley Bank.

A better camera should mean more accurate facial recognition. Will it spur more banks to embrace the technology?

The credit union is testing 130 cards with employees for 45 days

On-card biometrics is the final piece of the puzzle to bring trust and security to contactless payments without compromising convenience, writes Lina Andolf-Orup, global product marketing manager at Fingerprints.

Sometimes an idea is ahead of its time. Many of the most ambitious products in fintech were dismissed as absurd or overambitious at the time — only to feel perfectly normal years later as culture and consumer habits evolved.

Sometimes an idea is ahead of its time. Many of the most ambitious products in payments and fintech were dismissed as absurd or over-ambitious at the time — only to feel perfectly normal years later as culture and consumer habits evolved.

Mastercard plans to deploy its biometric authentication option for European consumers to use through their smartphones when shopping online or conducting mobile banking.

Patience could be wearing thin for those awaiting action from the card networks' emerging fraud-prevention protocol known as 3-D Secure 2.0. But after many delays, the technology appears to be awakening from hibernation.

Rather than searching for a "silver bullet" and relying on a single line of defense, FIs and merchants should adopt a layered model combining different approaches and technologies, writes Elina Mattila, executive director at Mobey Forum.

Mobile wallets blend together, going so far as to share the same branding pattern — Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, Walmart Pay, etc. — but a few companies are going against conventional wisdom with their own products.

Gemalto's latest biometric payment card brings a fair amount of common sense into play. But is it enough to appeal to mainstream cardholders?

Japanese card brand JCB is testing a biometric platform that it claims has an accuracy level of only one false acceptance in one billion transactions.

Seeking a way to facilitate higher-value contactless transactions, the Bank of Cyprus plans to issue an EMV card deploying biometric authentication to replace a PIN code.

Russia will get a countrywide biometric database for financial services starting next summer, the central bank said.