- Key insights: Biometric cards have lagged in the U.S.
- What's at stake: The cards are expensive, but can improve authentication.
- Supporting data: In 2026, the U.S. biometric card market size is predicted to be between $2.5 million and $3 million.
Payment cards with fingerprint sensors are more popular in Europe, for instance, because of regulations governing authentication.
"Where chip and pin is required overseas, it really streamlines the process because there is no need for a pin," said David Shipper, strategic advisor in the retail banking and payments practice at Datos Insights. Fingerprint technology is an alternative, secure way to ensure the correct person is making this purchase, and it's faster than trying to enter a pin, he added.
Still, there's value to these cards in the U.S., particularly for high-net-worth individuals, frequent travelers and fraud-minded individuals. In 2026, the U.S. biometric card market size is predicted to be between $2.5 million and $3 million, according to Future Market Insights. Over the next decade, it's expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 11.7%. Previously, Future Market Insights had expected the market would be around $10 million in 2026.
"The growth is subdued, but the growth is still there," Rahul Pandita, marketing manager at Future Market Insights, told American Banker.
Here's what banks need to know about the potential market and challenges for these cards:
The potential market for U.S. consumers
High-net-worth individuals who have high credit limits and tend to be big spenders could be a good target market, Shipper told American Banker. Some of these consumers prefer a physical card rather than paying with their phone, and most customers still want both options, he said. A bank could differentiate itself by offering a biometric card to high-net-worth individuals, he said.
Some banks make metal cards available to high-net-worth customers, which are already more expensive than plastic, so adding a biometric feature may not be as jarring to issuers from a cost perspective. (Biometric cards cost around $15 to $20 per card, on average, compared with up to around $1 for a standard contactless card, Pandita told American Banker.)
Issuers are increasingly offering more sought-after features to metal cards, such as
Frequent travelers could also be interested in biometric cards, said Frédéric Martinez, who heads innovative payment cards at Thales, a maker of biometric payment cards. Biometric cards could be especially good for people who travel to areas of the world that impose a pin requirement. They could also reduce the friction that can happen when consumers are traveling within the U.S. and card issuers decline transactions outside the user's home area due to suspected fraud, Martinez said.
Banks in the U.S. haven't launched Thales' biometric card products yet, but the company is in discussions with several about potentially offering biometric cards to their customers, Martinez told American Banker. Thales' fingerprint sensor is available for plastic cards, and the company is working on a prototype for a metal card, he added.
Recent happenings
Much of the recent activity with biometric cards has been outside the U.S. In July, Mastercard said it had
There have also been recent efforts to make it easier for consumers to enroll their fingerprints. In January, IDEMIA said it had
Thales rolled out the ability to enroll via app and mobile device last year. Some banks ask customers to come into a branch to enroll, while others provide customers with a small reader that can allow the customer to enroll their card at home in less than a minute, Martinez said.
On a less positive note for the biometric cards market, Zwipe, a Norwegian company specializing in biometric cards and wearable payment technology, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, following an arbitration ruling and ongoing revenue struggles.
Challenges persist
Although the biometric payment cards market is expanding, the higher cost of these cards can be prohibitive; at present, many banks don't want to offer it widely because of the economics, Pandita said. Cost, however, could be expected to drop over time, assuming market volume increases, Martinez said.
Additionally, while fingerprint sensor cards have their supporters, they aren't the only biometric game in town. Many consumers prefer to pay with their phones, forgoing a physical card altogether. Momentum is also rising for other biometric payment methods, such as palm and face-recognition technology, Pandita said. For instance, Amazon, PopID and others have
What could lie ahead?
Currently, biometric payment cards are meant for in-store purchases. However, in Latin America, Thales is testing a solution that could be used for verifying e-commerce transactions as well as in-store, Martinez told American Banker. It's something banks have been asking for and the company hopes to offer in the future, he said.
Also, in addition to credit cards, debit cards with fingerprint sensors are currently being tested by companies in the biometric payment cards space, according to a report from Future Market Insights.
Recent developments within the biometric card space are worth watching. This is especially true since many U.S. consumers aren't ready to give up physical cards, Shipper of Datos Insights told American Banker. "There's definitely a market in the U.S. for this. It's just smaller than outside the U.S."
