Discover Financial Services is working with French outfit Natural Security to pilot a system which combines biometrics and contactless cards to enable customers to pay with their fingertips.
Discover has agreed to experiment in the US with Natural Security's technology, which lets users pay by placing their fingers on biometric readers.
The biometric data is linked to a contactless card, which will work as long as it is within one and a half meters of the terminal, meaning it can be left in the user's pocket or bag.
Troy Bernard, global head, emerging payments, Discover, says: "I believe that leaving your card in your pocket, simply touching a reader, and having the peace-of-mind that your payment is secured by your fingerprint is a right step in delivering that desired payment experience. Equally important, there is minimal impact to the existing payments infrastructure as the transaction can be magnetic stripe or EMV-formatted."
Cedric Hozanne, CEO, Natural Security, adds: "With our technology, a user can be quickly and reliably authenticated, whatever their needs, for example making purchases in-store, online shopping or home banking, withdrawing money on an ATM and access to premises or a PC."
News of the Discover deal comes on the heels of the start of a six month pilot in two locations in France involving several of Natural Security's bank owners.