POLAND’S FIRST BIOMETRIC CARD DEVELOPED BY THALES COMES INTO CUSTOMERS’ HANDS
Since 20th of December, Poland’s first biometric card is available for corporate customers of Bank Pocztowy. When paying with this card, the transaction is authorised through biometric verification of the cardholder’s fingerprint, regardless of the amount.
- Since 20th of December, Poland’s first EMV biometric cards are coming into hands of Bank Pocztowy’s customers. The payment is realized only after the biometric verification of the cardholder’s fingerprint.
- The use of biometric authentication in a contactless payment card significantly enhances the security of funds, ensures users’ privacy and allows transactions to be carried out at a social distance.
- This state of the art solution was designed by Thales which not only developed the card, but is also responsible for its packaging and distribution.
This ambitious project, which aimed to introduce the innovative mean of payment, lasted five months and involved cooperation between Bank Pocztowy, Fiserv Polska S.A., Mastercard and Thales. The latter provides a comprehensive offer, and apart from developing the card with a reader for biometric fingerprint encoding, it furnishes modern packaging, product personalization and its distribution to final users.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic reduces cash circulation and the latest research shows that Poles are definitely part of this trend1. In addition, card payments account for 62% of all transactions in Poland2 &3. The new payment card using biometric authentication enables modern, fast and secure cashless payments.
As an experienced provider of biometric technologies, Thales pays particular attention to security in the development of new solutions. It is important to recognize that cashless transactions with biometric verification ensure a very high level of security. This authentication method makes it impossible for a third party to use the card, so a card which has been stolen or lost becomes useless. At the same time, contactless transactions are convenient, let us practice the necessary social distancing in the pandemic reality and do not demand to enter a PIN code, which reduces the risk of contact with potential viruses. Also, the fingerprint reference data are securely stored in the chip of the card. They are neither sent to bank servers, POS terminals or ATMs, which guarantees the complete privacy of the owner.
The new product, currently available for corporate customers of Bank Pocztowy, will also be targeted at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in January 2022. The card is a particularly convenient alternative for business account holders. The transactions with EMV biometric card create a mobile payment experience, however, without the need to register the card e.g. in a mobile application. In addition, the biometric card will never be discharged. It gets all the energy it needs from the Point-of-Sales terminals for each transaction and never relies on a battery.
The biometric Mastercard card offered to Bank Pocztowy’s customers has a special fingerprint sensor designed to work better than mobile fingerprint sensors, as its performances have been homologated for the first time in the industry by independent and Mastercard-accredited labs. In order to realize the transaction, the cardholder needs to place their finger on a sensor. If the biometric data matches the one recorded previously, the light on the card turns green and the payment is processed. In case a fraudster wants to use the card, the cardholder assets are protected: the light on the card turns red and the fingerprint-based transaction is rejected.
"Thanks to extensive and fruitful cooperation with our partners, this ambitious project has been successful and today Bank Pocztowy can offer the first EMV biometric card to Polish customers. It is a breakthrough event in the field of cashless payments in Poland. So far, in Europe this modern solution could only be used by French customers,” says Agata Kontrym-Woś, Member of the Board, Sales Director Banking & Payment Services, Thales DIS Poland. “Caring for its clients, Bank Pocztowy has opted for innovation and convenience. I am convinced that the new card owners will appreciate the security and the rapidity of the transaction, which will contribute to further digital transformation of the market."
"Thales as a provider of new technologies is a trustworthy partner, which is particularly important in such a sensitive area as payment services and data protection. We are delighted that this cooperation allows us to reach further milestones on the way to digitalization of the banking sector and enables customers to benefit from the solutions that are convenient and innovative, yet secure. We are looking forward to continuing the project so that the biometric card could also be used by our individual customers", adds Marcin Ledworowski, Member of the Board for Business and IT, Bank Pocztowy.
www.thalesgroup.com
