• David Orme, Senior Vice President at IDEX Biometrics ASA


• 07.06.2019 12:45 pm
Financial IT

One in 10 brits now live a largely cashless life, according to new UK Finance findings, amid a rise of contactless and mobile banking. Highlighting the UK is quickly progressing towards becoming a completely cashless society. While there’s no denying the UK is fast approaching a cashless society, there remain a number of barriers that threaten the UK’s ability to fully embrace this transition. From a lack of trust in mobile payment technology to a lack of accessibility for the poor or elderly. IDEX Biometrics ASA research has also found 72% of UK consumers are concerned about the possibility of no longer having access to a physical debit card and needing to rely on mobile payments only. To ensure the benefits of a cashless society are available for all, governments and banks must work together to find an efficient and secure alternative to cash and ensure secure longevity of payment cards.

One solution is the biometric fingerprint payment card. Due to its unique and personal nature, connecting fingerprints to the payment card is an ideal means to provide stronger authentication. In fact, IDEX Biometrics ASA research revealed 56% of consumers would trust the use of their fingerprint to authenticate payments more than the traditional PIN. By using biometrics, people will no longer have to compromise security for convenience, as no consumer habit change is required to authenticate payment cards. Key players within the banking industry are already heavily invested in this new payment authentication technology and we predict biometric payment card adoption will go into many millions this year.