OP Financial prepares Nordic biometric card pilot in 2021

Finland’s OP Financial has announced that it will be launching a biometric payment card pilot in the Nordic countries in the second half of 2021.

The pilot is being conducted with Helsinki, Finland-based software technology and payment card provider TietoEVRY, which is also bringing in two companies from its partner network — biometrics firm Zwipe and card and software provider Tag Systems Group. OP Financial reported that over 60% of its payment terminal transactions are currently contactless, which leads it to conclude that its customers have readily adopted the technology and that they are ready to move to a fingerprint biometric-enabled card.

“Biometric payment cards provide a secure and easy payment method which also enables contactless payments possible of over €50 [about $59],” said OP cards’ business lead Teemu Korte of OP Financial in the release. “We are waiting to pilot this new payment method with our customers at latest during the second half of next year. We hope that the user experiences in the pilot will be good, so that we could bring this new alternative to our card portfolio.”

COVID-19 has fueled strong interest in contactless payment adoption, particularly in Europe, where the method had been gaining strong acceptance prior to the pandemic. In the U.K., contactless payments had already achieved 50% adoption in 2018, according to Visa.

In March, Mastercard responded to consumers’ and retailers’ pandemic-fueled concerns by raising contactless limits before a PIN entry is required at a POS terminal in 29 countries, many going from €20 (about $24) to €50 (about $59). By the end of May, Mastercard announced that 78% of its transactions in Europe had become contactless — a change in consumer habits it expected to become permanent.

Consumer interest in biometric cards has been rising, as COVID-19 fears fuel consumer health and safety concerns about handling high touch surfaces such as POS terminals when in-store shopping, especially to enter PIN codes when a transaction exceeds the PIN limit value.

A recent joint survey by TietoEVRY and Zwipe among Swedish adults conducted in October 2020 revealed 75% of consumers wanted their next payment card to be biometric-enabled, and that 48% would be willing to switch banks to obtain a biometric card. One interesting development given the current health concerns and the higher costs of biometric cards relative to standard EMV chip cards is that 59% of adults surveyed would be willing to pay for a biometric-enabled card.

“We see great interest in the market for the secure, safe and convenient means of payment that biometric payment cards provide,” said says Jarmo Rouhiainen, head of card production and personalization at TietoEVRY in the release. “We are excited to start working with OP on this, as we jointly pioneer the latest technology which benefits people’s everyday life. This collaboration is also proof of the strength of TietoEVRY’s partner network, in this case with our partners Tag Systems Group and Zwipe.”