IDEMIA Combines Driver’s License with Payment Card

“With IDEMIA and Mastercard in partnership, we believe the capabilities of a multi-functional card with combined payment and identifications will increase in importance due to the demand to get funds into consumers’ hands quickly and easily without compromising security.” – Matt Thompson, SVP of Civil Identity for North America, IDEMIA

IDEMIA is looking to combine a driver’s license with a payment card in its newly-announced “Converged Card” solution.

In addition to acting as proof of identity and a license to drive, the Converged Card is also designed to facilitate transactions between the citizen and the state. Such transactions could include things like tax refunds, utility assistance, and unemployment benefits.

It’s an approach to state subsidies that would cut through a lot of red tape, and one that might be particularly appealing at a time of crisis and financial uncertainty amid the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

More generally, though, the card could “address the foundational issues of financial inclusion,” explained IDEMIA’s President of Financial Institutions for North America, Megan Heinze.

The Converged Card has been developed in partnership with Mastercard, which has also been working with IDEMIA on its biometric payment card solution in recent years. The Converged Card collaboration came about through a Mastercard program called City Possible, which is aimed at finding innovative approaches to making cities more inclusive and sustainable.

“With IDEMIA and Mastercard in partnership, we believe the capabilities of a multi-functional card with combined payment and identifications will increase in importance due to the demand to get funds into consumers’ hands quickly and easily without compromising security,” said Matt Thompson, IDEMIA’s SVP of Civil Identity for North America.

The Converged Card could also potentially offer synergies with IDEMIA’s developing virtual driver’s license platform, an effort in which the company is currently already working with more than three-quarters of US states. The aim is essentially to create a smart driver’s license that is housed virtually in an end user’s smartphone.