INNOVATION IN THE WORLD OF CREDIT CARDS

It’s a well-known fact, banks that do digital transformation get more clients. Sella decided to join the number of innovators and launched the test version of biometrical credit. But isn’t it too late? Mastercard and zwipe has tested it first in 2014 with Sparebanken DIN bank in Norway.

https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/news-item/worlds-first-biometric-payment-card-launched/

Sella Personal Credit disburses credit through the most innovative forms of payment, diversifying its activities to offer customers and business partners secure and reliable financing solutions, capable of satisfying different and constantly evolving needs. 

This time, Sella announced an utterly new way of payments that allows their clients to purchase, using only fingerprints. So how does it work? To make a payment, first of all customer has to get a kit containing a particular device or as it’s also called, “sleeve”. By using this device, the cardholder can enroll his/her fingerprint on the card. The process takes a few minutes and doesn’t require bank visiting. After the authorization card is ready for exploitation. 

The biometric chip is located directly on the card and there is no need to charge it as the chip is powered by the POS in case of contact payments. How to hold the payment? To confirm payment, the cardholder has to put his finger on a biometrical chip. 

Such a way of payment is more secure and easier than standard PIN entering. These benefits can become very attractive for many bank clients as according to statistics, most people use credit cards for convenience and security. Also, we would like to emphasize that biometric cards can be used worldwide and are recognizable by any EMV-certified POS and ATM terminal.

Is the idea of a biometrical payment card unique? Obviously it’s not. Crédit Agricole has already launched a trial phase for the biometric bank card in its Touraine and Poitou regional banks. Today, this innovation is offered by holding a Mastercard World Elite card. Also,  Société Générale has developed a similar solution, but we predict it will take some time for it to become widely available. 

Such interest in biometrical cards arose due to the number of solution’s benefits:

• Privacy. It’s almost impossible to simulate a person’s unique fingerprint. Also, privacy is protected by ensuring the user’s biometric credentials never leave the card.
• Environmentally friendliness. Since the biometric system consumes very low power, no battery is needed for the card to work.
• Convenient transactions. Cardholders can make secure, convenient payments anywhere in the world.
  
  But, needless to say, the solution has some disadvantages. You shouldn’t forget about possible issues with the recognition of damaged fingerprints or a false acceptance rate (FAR). According to statistics the total error rate of biometric systems is around 1%.