Upgraded American Express Security System to Support Fingerprint, Facial Recognition

“SafeKey 2.0 is based on EMV 3DS, and it will support biometric authentication in the form of facial and fingerprint recognition.”

With EMVCo having just announced an upgrade to its EMV 3-D Secure – Protocol and Core Functions Specification, or EMV 3DS, American Express has likewise announced the next generation of its SafeKey authentication platform.

SafeKey 2.0 is based on EMV 3DS, and it will support biometric authentication in the form of facial and fingerprint recognition. That could help to further drive the rise of mobile commerce, given the current proliferation of smartphones featuring embedded fingerprint sensors, and the anticipated rise in mobile facial recognition systems in the wake of the iPhone X’s introduction of Face ID security.

In a statement announcing the upgrade, American Express Global Network Business EVP Jaromir Divilek affirmed that “[t]he number of consumers making purchases through mobile channels is continuing to grow, and the expected growth of Internet-connected devices will further fuel digital commerce activity.”

American Express’s platform will also help card issuers and merchants to depress fraud by allowing them to exchange more detailed transaction information, and the company says it “will support card issuers and merchant acquirers in the European Union” as they seek to address the new PSD2 regulations. The upgrade is slated to arrive in the spring of 2018.