Visa Survey Shows More Than Half of Cardholders Prefer Biometric Authentication

A recent study released by Visa shows that the majority of credit card holders would consider switching banks if biometric authentication was not offered by their current institution.

The same study also showed that two-thirds of respondents have used biometrics for authenticating their identity and prefer it over the traditional PIN or password security methods most people have been accustomed to.

Other useful information gleaned from the study is that 68% of U.S. shoppers have abandoned an online purchase due to either forgetting their password, or because of other trouble logging in to make their purchase.

At a time when passwords are under constant and increasing threat from hackers — a 2019 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report revealed that 80% of data breaches were due to compromised or weak passwords– biometric authentication is becoming a more enticing form of online security for consumers.

According to the survey, the three biggest benefits of biometric authentication are no longer needing to remember a password (42%), improved security over passwords (34%), and the inability to lose or forget a biometric authentication method (33%).

With nearly 20 billion devices predicted to be online by the end of 2020, the way people shop is continuing to change, and biometric authentication is poised to be at the forefront in not only securing consumers identities and digital transactions, but also ensuring retailers and financial institutions are able to provide a safe platform for those purchases and transactions to take place.