It’s already Q2! It has been a momentous few months for biometrics, so it’s not surprising the year is passing so quickly. New products launched, new milestones reached, and new market trials initiated. Biometrics is expanding and advancing rapidly – both in its existing markets and applications, and in new ones.

Not sure what you’ve missed? Here’s my run-down of the big biometrics news stories that have started the year.

Biometric payment cards ‘go large’

Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, announced today that New York-based NBT Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ: NBTB), the parent company of NBT Bank, is empowering employees to deliver digital banking services tailored to the needs of customers using technology from Fiserv.

Accelya, the leading provider of financial, commercial and analytics solutions for airlines today announces the launch of Accelya Payment Gateway – a platform that offers fast and reliable global payment acceptance, powered by Mastercard.

Entersekt today released further results from its recent online survey conducted by The Harris Poll among over 1,300 US adults who use banking apps once a month or more often (regular banking app users). The mobile-first fintech provider commissioned the independent market research firm to better understand US consumer attitudes towards mobile app-based banking and payments.

Kantox, a leader in FX management solutions for businesses, has just closed its second venture debt financing deal with Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the bank of the world’s most innovative businesses, enterprises and their investors.

The €5 million loan package is the second deal agreed between Kantox and SVB, with the first announced in December 2017. The new financing agreement underscores the appeal of Kantox’s growth story and SVB’s track record of investing in disruptive companies.

Singapore Airlines has partnered with Adyen, the payments platform of choice for many of the world's leading companies, to ensure a frictionless payments experience for customers when they book online or in-app. Working with Adyen, Singapore Airlines has enjoyed an increase in authorization rates, flexibility on fraud risk management and richer data insights, resulting in a more seamless payment experience for its customers across the globe.

Econocom UK & IRL, a leading provider of digital transformation solutions, has appointed Keith Richardson as its new Director of Corporate Relationships. The appointment is part of the company’s ongoing commitment to the UK and follows an eight per cent year-on-year revenue growth for the Econocom Group.

PPRO Group, with its co-founders, is pleased to announce the set-up of the European Third-Party Provider Association (ETPPA), a new entity that strengthens Third Party Providers’ (TPP) interests around the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The ETPPA formalises the existing Future of European Fintech (FoEF) coalition into an official non-profit TPP trade association.

ieDigital was today shortlisted in two categories at the Credit Awards 2019. The categories are ‘Excellence in open banking’ and ‘Best rebrand’. The winners will be announced by host Jimmy Carr on 16 May at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel.

The Credit Awards, organised by Credit Strategy and sponsored by Experian, is the flagship event for the UK’s credit industry. The awards recognise and reward individuals, teams and organisations in UK risk, credit and collections, and ieDigital is shortlisted in two of its newest categories, described as:

Accuity, the leading provider of financial crime compliance, payments, and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions, has announced its AI-driven account screening capability, ‘Firco Automated Alert Reduction’, which increases the level of accuracy in detecting and evaluating screening matches during the KYC process.