Mastercard has announced that UK customers will be able to pay for goods and services using a selfie or a fingerprint from April next year.
According to the payment services provider, the majority of shoppers want to pay for products with biometrics rather than PINs and passwords. And from April 2019, banks issuing Mastercard products will have to be able to offer biometric authentication for online and mobile payments, as well as in-store transactions made on mobile devices.
“Biometric technologies perfectly meet the public’s expectation for state-of-the-art security when making a payment," said Mark Barnett, president, Mastercard UK & Ireland.
Mastercard said if customers have to remember a password to purchase goods online, this often leads to basket abandonment.
“This will be of great benefit to everyone: consumers, retailers and banks. It will make the purchase much smoother, and instead of having to remember passwords to authenticate, shoppers will have the chance to use a fingerprint or a picture of themselves,” explained Barnett.
Back at the end of 2016, Mastercard rolled its Identity Check Mobile solution out to Brazil and Mexico.