Are Selfies the Future of Payments? MasterCard Thinks So

Throughout the year Finance Magnates has covered innovative security features arriving to the payment sector. Many of them relate to incorporating biometrics within mobile wallets to identify purchasers, with Apple Pay’s fingerprint sensors being instrumental in promoting biometrics to the mainstream public. Other solutions include using a smartphone camera to take a ‘selfy’ as a way of identifying users with Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term.

Taking this initiative further to making it a reality, MasterCard today announced the introduction of MasterCard Identity Check. The product is a set of solutions that verify online payment transactions such as biometrics and one time SMS delivered passwords.

According to MasterCard, the initiative was based on evidence gathered from consumers that showed that friction/inconvenience in processing orders is a leading cause of consumers abandoning online shopping. In a survey of shoppers, MasterCard discovered that 53% of shoppers forget crucial passwords more than once a week, with password resets causing a loss of more than 10 minutes. In addition, the survey revealed that more than 50% want passwords replaced with something more convenient.

On these findings and the launch of MasterCard Identity Check, Ajay Bhalla, president of Enterprise Security Solutions at MasterCard stated: “Today, people shop on all sorts of devices, and they expect technology to simplify and secure the transaction. This is exactly what Identity Check delivers.”

As the product launches, it is currently being used in beta testing with hundreds of cardholders in both the US and Netherlands. Those initiatives are through partnerships with ABN AMRO and First Tech Federal Credit Union.

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