Mastercard is introducing Identity Check Mobile, the app that allows customers to verify their identity using a fingerprint scanner or by snapping a selfie, to 12 European markets.
The aim of the app is to simplify the checkout experience for online shoppers. Typically, they’re met with a process that takes them away from the retailer's website or app to enter their SecureCode passwords. It can be time consuming and oftentimes leads to transaction declines if the password is entered incorrectly.
“We are relentlessly focused on making the online payment experience near frictionless, without making any compromises on safety and security,” Ajay Bhalla, Mastercard's president of enterprise risk and security, said in an Oct. 4 news release. “Shopping in person has been revolutionised thanks to advances like contactless cards, mobile payments and wearables, and now we are making Identity Check Mobile a reality for online shopping in Europe.”
Mastercard is introducing the app in the U.K., Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. The rollout follows successful trials in the U.S. and Canada, and in the Netherlands, which showed a preference by customers for biometric authentication systems. It plans to roll it out across the rest of the world in phases throughout 2017.
