The market for ‘powered payment cards’ is on the cusp of a boom, according to a new report from ABI Research.
It’s the firm’s term for new payment card solutions like biometric payment cards and cards featuring dynamic code verification (DCV). According to ABI Research, 260,000 of these kinds of payment cards are expected to be delivered this year; in 2022, that number will reach 213 million.
This remarkable growth is expected despite a major obstacle in costs; ABI Research says powered payment cards currently carry average selling prices (ASPs) of up to $20 per unit, whereas standard payment cards only cost between one and two dollars. But the firm says that the new technologies offer particular benefits in certain niche end markets where higher ASPs are more tolerable, with Principal Analyst Phil Sealy asserting in a report summary that “[t]he biometric sensor card for example is more than a security hardening payments technology, with potential applications across a multitude of end markets including social/welfare applications, access control, hospitality, and healthcare.” Meanwhile, targeting the new cards at affluent end customers and other innovative business models will also help to bring the technology to market.
It’s good news for the budding supply ecosystem for biometric smart cards. Biometrics specialists like Fingerprint Cards, NEXT Biometrics, and IDEX having lately been very busy investing resources into fingerprint sensors for smart cards, and establishing partnerships to help bring those technologies to market. Meanwhile, major payments entities like Mastercard have been increasingly active too, with that credit card issuer having trialled biometric payment cards this year.
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