Multinational companies are jumping into the biometrics authentication market one after the other as industries that are related to biometrics and are estimated to be worth $17 billion are starting to form.
According to the industry, major tech companies from the U.S., Japan, and Europe have started to join forces. Government agencies are also introducing biometrics authentication platforms to their respective administrative systems.
Multinational companies such as Visa, Thales, Amazon, and Carrefour are either preparing to launch or have launched various biometrics authentication services.
It is heard that Visa Card is looking into introducing a biometrics authentication payment method during Tokyo Olympics. During Pyeongchang Olympics, Visa introduced its wearable-based payment method. As Tokyo Olympics approaches, Visa is working on establishing infrastructures for biometrics authentication-based payment method.
Thales, which acquired Gemalto that is the world’s number one smart card company, has joined hands with Mastercard and is looking to mass-produce biometrics-based payment cards. This process is a major project that will convert current credit cards into biometric payment card with a fingerprint cards sensor and it will be applied to 80 different countries.
In Asia, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and China have agreed to use the biometric payment card with a fingerprint cards sensor. Almost entire countries in Europe have agreed to use the card and it is heard that even some African countries are also looking into adopting the card. By 2021, Mastercard is going to replace about 3 billion credit cards into biometric payment cards. UnionPay has also started a process that will replace about 5.6 billion credit cards into biometric payment card with a fingerprint cards sensor.
Carrefour, which is a French multinational corporation specializing in retail, is going to open stores that will accept fingerprint-based payments and it will open pilot stores shortly. Amazon has applied palm biometric payments and signed a partnership with Visa.
There is also an increase in number of cases where government agencies are using biometrics authentication as part of their administrative systems.
ITU (International Telecommunication Union) started using biometrics authentication since last year and it is currently preparing to issue biometrics passes for its 30 members.
GenKey has upgraded a management system in Niger for public workers, students with grants, and pensioners. Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea are also pushing for electronic identification cards based on biometrics. Nigeria, which is the first African country to use multi-function biometric ID card, and Tanzania have also started gathering public opinions from their nationals as they are looking into applying biometric platforms to many different administrative fields.
Jamaica and Bangladesh have started creating new biometric passports while Fiji and Romania are pushing for “biometric ID cards”.
British Government is planning on an electronic travel approval system similar to the ones that are used in the U.S. and Canada. It is using biometrics authentication as the main way to distinguish people for border control.
“Although South Korea is partially using biometric authentication within its financial and distribution markets, it is still in its infant stage when it comes to biometrics authentication.” said CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) of a financial company. “Because various future industries and downstream industries based on biometrics authentication are taking place globally, South Korean Government also needs to invest in biometrics authentication in order to secure competitive edge in the field.”
Staff Reporter Gil, Jaesik | osolgil@etnews.com