New forms of authentication, such as fingerprint, facial, and voice recognition, can make unlocking accounts and payments much easier and more convenient than traditional passwords or PINs - which are difficult to type onto tiny keyboards, easy to forget, and can be stolen.

"Advances in mobile device technology is increasing the speed and accuracy of biometrics, such that they can be used for financial transactions," said Gord Jamieson, Head of Risk Services, Visa Canada. "This makes it the ideal time to integrate biometric technology into payments experiences for customers. At Visa, we are investing in the best ways to add these emerging technologies to our products and services."

Authentication Survey Findings

According to the Visa study conducted by AYTM Market Research, 85 per cent of Canadian consumers are interested in using biometrics to verify identity or to make payments, and six-out- of 10 (59 per cent) consumers are already familiar with biometrics.i Findings from the survey illustrate consumers' desire to see the implementation of biometric tools in payment authentication processes.

Highlights from the survey include:

• Canadian consumers were most familiar with fingerprint recognition, with 57 per cent having tried fingerprint recognition, and 25 per cent using it regularly. By comparison, 39 per cent have tried voice recognition in the past and only 10 per cent use it regularly.
• Sixty-five per cent of respondents find biometrics easier than passwords and 57 per cent consider it faster. Fewer than a third of consumers (31 per cent) use a unique password for each of their accounts.
• A third of Canadians (32 per cent) have abandoned an online purchase because they couldn't remember their password.
• Nearly fifty per cent of consumers responded that the top benefit of using biometrics is eliminating the need to remember multiple passwords or PINs, followed by 44 per cent who said that biometrics is more secure than passwords or PINs for verifying identity.
• Forty-four per cent of consumers are concerned both about the risk of a security breach of sensitive biometric information and 43 per cent are concerned that biometric authentication won't work well/will take multiple tries.