Societe Generale, a France-based financial services company, is experimenting a biometric bank card that features a fingerprint sensor.
Image: Societe Generale to pilot biometric card system. Photo: Courtesy of Societe Generale.
Societe Generale is claimed to be the first bank in France to launch a new generation card equipped with a card verification value / code already adopted by over 400,0000 clients.
The bank said contactless payment system is now being widely accepted by French people and it is projected to reach almost two billion transactions this year.
To provide greater security for transactions, Societe Generale will be testing the biometric bank card that will use a fingerprint sensor.
As the cardholder is one who will authenticate by using his or her finger, rather than entering the PIN code, all payments can be made using contactless with no limit to the amount. Furthermore, the card will function for all contact-type payments in-store, on the internet or for withdrawals.
When a cardholder receives the card for the first time, he or she will have to record the fingerprint in the biometric card. The fingerprint is verified directly on the card. The company claims that no element or information related to the fingerprint is transmitted to the merchant or to the bank.
In the same manner as the usual dynamic card verification value / code, is reassuring for the client, the new biometric card will form part of the bank’s strategy to constantly improve user experience and remain as a trusted third party for the French people.
Societe Generale stated that this new card is based on F.CODE technology developed by IDEMIA. When a customer authorizes payments via the fingerprint sensor embedded in the card, the identity is verified by IDEMIA’s algorithm. The algorithm matches the owner’s fingerprint to the template stored in the card. This new technology can help move forward from the 4-digit PIN.
IDEMIA stated that with such high levels of security through biometric verification, merchants can provide a threshold of contactless payments, which are presently limited to smaller amounts.