If you have read the subheading, then you must be wondering as to how the simple implementation of the ultra-common fingerprint sensor on your debit card will change the banking experience? Consider your cash withdrawals during the period of "demonetization" in 2016. You must be remembering that it was a tricky method to enter your debit card PIN while hiding the num-pad of the ATM machine from prying eyes behind you, pushing each other to get a glimpse of your transaction details.
If you remove that num-pad based PIN entry from the scene, no one in the world would get a clue about your debit card PIN, apart from your bank. This implementation would also make card payments at restaurants or shopping malls a lot more secure.
However, all fingerprint sensors are not alike. Mastercard implementation as involving a trip to "an enrollment center," where a user could store one or two different prints (of their own) on their card. An encrypted digital template of your fingerprint is stored on the card's EMV chip. The new cards authenticate when a matching fingerprint is supplied by the user after inserting the card into a Chip and Pin terminal (not swiped). The card sensor would also not work when used in an ATM that ingests the card.
MasterCard is keen on embedding this basic technology on its line-up of credit and debit cards to enhancing the user security. Not only security, a biometric authentication would make payments faster, in the same way as unlocking your smartphone is just a tap away instead of those complex mazes that you used (many of you still do it) to set as your pattern password.
The demo cards are currently being tested in South Africa and MasterCard plans to roll it out to the world by the end of 2017. The cards are not any different from your regular credit/debit card that you carry in your wallet. While the basic architecture remains mostly the same, you will notice only a matte coloured sensor patch on the top left corner of the card.
The card itself is no thicker than a regular credit card. The fingerprint sensor is a small, thumbnail-sized rectangle that sits at the top right corner, and is easily accessible when you stick the card into a payment terminal.
When the terminal asks you to insert the card, it's communicating to the bank information like your identity and the amount of the transaction. Then, it verifies your identity by asking for your fingerprint. The sensor reads your finger, and sends the information to the card's chip, which determines if you're the owner. If you are, it sends a "Yes" or "Authorized" message to the bank, which then allows the payment to pass.
As for the vendors, there’s no need to upgrade any hardware, unless you are still using the magnetic-type swipe-based transaction machine on your billing desk.
While MasterCard is planning a global roll-out of the fingerprint-enabled debit card, you can be assured that it will take a few years due to the additional time being taken by banks and financial institutions to get their approvals from the management for the implementation of this new convenience.
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