Beginning Tuesday, shoppers in Austria, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden can now make online payments through a selfie instead of passwords.
Called the Identity Check Mobile, the new payment technology aims to simplify online shopping through the use of biometrics like facial recognition or fingerprints to verify the identity of the cardholder.
Online shoppers are often required to enter a password upon entering a retailer’s website. But the process can be time consuming especially when a shopper repeatedly enters a wrong secret code, resulting to a failed transaction or the shopper abandoning the purchase.
#Identity Check #Mobile a reality- MasterCard brings #fingerprints and #selfie #scanners to online shopping pic.twitter.com/R9j2ld5lFF
— Liz McGettigan (@lizmcgettigan) October 5, 2016
“Mastercard Identity Check Mobile eliminates the need for cardholders to recall passwords, dramatically speeding up the digital checkout experience while also improving security,” Mastercard said in a statement.
“Instead, the cardholder can verify their identity by using the fingerprint scanner on their smartphone or via facial recognition technology by taking a ‘selfie’ photo.”
Mastercard Identity Check Mobile is now introduced across 12 markets in Europe – #selfiepayments pic.twitter.com/AAu5UxzbfA
— MastercardEU (@MastercardEU) October 4, 2016
Bob Reany, MasterCard executive vice president, said biometric verification is safer and more convenient than pass codes since many are “finding that there’s a lot of frustration and friction with passwords.”
Reany said the new MasterCard technology will most likely be used through the existing mobile banking or credit union apps once it is available in the United States. But if a banking app doesn’t use the system, he said one can download the Identity Check Mobile app on the smartphone.
“We are relentlessly focused on making the online payment experience near frictionless, without making any compromises on safety and security,” said Ajay Bhalla, MasterCard president of Enterprise Risk and Security.
“This is a significant milestone in the evolution of payments. Shopping in person has been revolutionized 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, and soon, the world.”
The technology, unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Spain in February, will be commercially available worldwide in phases next year. It had gone through a series of successful trials in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands.
MasterCard developed the Identity Check Mobile app after research found out that online shoppers in Europe are increasingly embracing the biometric payment system.
