As biometrics expands its reach into the financial industry, payments are increasingly relying on biometrics for account security and authentication. Steve Cook, head of global business development at ID R&D, a leading biometric technology company, outlines five use cases for biometrics that extend beyond payment cards. As cases of fraud increase in the contactless payments landscape, there is a clear and urgent need for better measures to ensure that customers can access digital and virtual payments without contending with security risks. One of the innovative biometric authentication use cases highlighted in this article is in-app messenger payments, where lack of adequate identification prevents payment authorizations.
“Combined with the user’s device as a factor (something they have), voice biometrics enables low-friction two-factor authentication. There is no need for passwords, PINs, or knowledge-based authentication – all of which are vulnerable to hacking and social engineering, not to mention frustrating for customers.”
Additionally, biometric authentication can be used to secure the entire payments landscape through its implementation in identity proofing new accounts. When a user creates an account, they can be validated though a combination of physiological and behavioral biometric measures, which can then be used as a benchmark for all future user behavior and authentication on a platform. The key appeal of behavioral biometrics is its ability to authenticate users without adding any additional steps, and in most cases, eliminating existing authentication steps through a combination of historical data and machine learning.
“It’s critical for this step to be intuitive and frictionless for users to avoid confusion, frustration that leads to abandonment.”
Mercator Advisory Group is currently in the process of finalizing a report that provides a comprehensive view of the biometric authentication landscape, due for publication in the upcoming week.
Overview by Shreyas Shaktikumar, Research Analyst at Mercator Advisory Group
