Japanese card brand JCB is running trials of a combined biometric palm print and vein identification system which claims a false acceptance rate of only one in one billion transactions.
The tests, run in conjunction with Universal Robot Co. (UR), and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, will put UR's server-based 'light palm authentication' technique through its paces.
In contrast to the palm vein technology using near-infrared light currently in general use, Universal Robot has made it possible to capture vein patterns with visible light for authentication purposes. This means that authentication can be done with just a smartphone camera.
The company claims its technology has the world's highest level of accuracy, with only a 0.0003% possibility of misidentification.
The trial at JCB headquarters in Tokyo will focus on capturing customer palm print and vein patterns with a smartphone camera, storing the patterns on a server, performing authentication, and returning the results to the smartphone.
JCB says it will be studying how to utilise the technology for a wide variety of services while only requiring the customer to register their palm information in the authentication server once using their own smartphone.