Swedish biometrics firm Fingerprints and identity tech solutions company IDEMIA are partnering on biometric contactless payment cards.

The firms have combined their capabilities and knowledge to create a miniature biometric sensor in a payment card. The chosen sensor is the recently announced T-shape module which is part of the FPC1300-series by Fingerprints.

For retailers, there are no infrastructure changes to carry out and for consumers, use is simple since there is no need to remember a PIN code. Once the fingerprint is enrolled at the bank or at home, the user only needs to place a finger on the card to validate the payment transaction. This technology is improving fluidity at the checkout, benefiting both retailers and customers by removing the 20€ or 30€ limit for contactless transactions.

"Collaboration is key in the smartcard and card payments ecosystem. IDEMIA is a leading provider in payment cards. Together we aim to advance in the market for contactless biometric payment cards" says Thomas Rex, SVP, Business Line Smartcards, at Fingerprints.

"We chose sensor technology from Fingerprints as they are a leader in fingerprint sensors and systems with market proven leading edge biometric performance", says Patrice Meilland, VP Powered Cards Business Line at IDEMIA.