Danal to Offer Biometric Payments App in South Korea, China, U.S.

South Korean mobile payment provider Danal will partner with biometric technology provider Crucialtec to develop an app for mobile payments in South Korea, and eventually in China and the U.S.

The app, called BarTong, will allow Danal to offer fingerprint authorization on Android devices, initially through the smartphone manufacturer Pantech’s Vega LTE-A smartphone.

Rather than entering a PIN when making a credit or debit card transaction, BarTong users will authenticate by swiping a finger over the smartphone's built-in scanner.

"Since the iPhone 5s adopted fingerprint sensors, Android-based handset makers have been taking account the possibility of fingerprint functions," Danal's payment business division executive Lee Seock-hwan told The Korea Herald.

"We will continue to partner with Crucialtec to unveil diverse fingerprint services for mobile payments," he added.

Last month, Apple introduced its TouchID fingerprint scanning technology in the iPhone 5s, allowing users to initiate iTunes payments by swiping a fingertip over a built-in reader.