MasterCard is diving deeper into biometric security with a new credit union partnership, according to a Credit Union Times article by Roy Urrico. The company has teamed up with Silicon Valley’s First Tech Federal Credit Union.
Commenting on the new partnership, First Tech VP Terry Rodrick said that biometric technology “may seem very James Bond-like but the reality is fraudsters are very clever and resourceful,” adding that the credit union’s tech-savvy members are “the perfect population to really kick the tires and pressure test new ways of making purchases.”
The two companies have already made an agreement that will see MasterCard provide new credit and debit cards that feature embedded chip and PIN distributed to First Tech members. How the biometric technology will fit into all this remains to be determined but MasterCard has confirmed that they will be exploring a multi-modal system employing face, fingerprint, and voice recognition.
This development comes in the wake of MasterCard’s announcement that it is going to invest $20 million in cyber security efforts, which in turn had been preceded by the successful pilot-testing of its new biometric credit card. The company appears to be working to adapt to the changing commerce landscape, in which consumers are increasingly performing financial transactions digitally, and thereby facing new security threats. Its forward-thinking approach should prove beneficial, not just to itself but to First Tech too.
Follow Us