From the start of the crisis prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the financial sector has striven to adapt to the new circumstances due to its being regarded as a key service to society.
Over this period some of the public’s habits have changed, with a very significant drop in cash movements along with a transformation of payment habits and a rise in online purchases. The authorities have provided measures to encourage electronic payments and thus to limit the risk of the virus spreading through exchanges of cash, with more use of contactless cards and payments with mobile phones. The implementation of recent
legislation has also been facilitated for banks so that public does not experience difficulties with digital payments or online banking.
Taking account of these concerns involves new challenges to which the sector is already providing the first responses. In this new reality, digital fingerprinting can be used a means of verifying cardholders in place of a PIN code or signature, both with biometric cards and mobile payments, thereby avoiding the need for consumers to handle the terminal.
Thales leads these two fields, as the first provider to have its biometric card certified by a major payment scheme, and the first to roll it out on the market. Over 4 years Thales has invested millions of euros in R&D to develop this technology and take it to a level of maturity that has made this another standard offering within its banking product portfolio.
In contactless mobile payments we are the world’s #1 independent token broker. Through our digital payment platform we connect more than 100 banks with the top OEMs and digital wallet providers. We help our clients every day to offer the best digital payment experience and to take advantage of the new tokenisation services promoted by international payment schemes (Visa, MasterCard and others).