Zwipe believes that the work of the past four years is going to pay off in 2022. CEO André Løvestam has indicated that the company is now on the cusp of a commercial breakthrough, and that financial institutions and mainstream audiences are finally ready to embrace biometric payment cards.
In that regard, Løvestam cited Zwipe’s recent successes as evidence of a growing trend. The company inked new deals with eight smart card manufacturers and card personalization service providers in 2021 alone, and also renewed an existing arrangement with TAG systems. Those card makers collectively distribute more than 300 million payment cards on an annual basis, with TAG Systems accounting for a full third of that total.
As it stands, Zwipe has already received NOK 20 million (roughly $2.25 million USD) in commercial orders for its flagship Pay ONE product. Most of those orders will be fulfilled in 2022 as the company moves forward with pilots and commercial launches all over the world.
Zwipe is now hoping to get Pay ONE certified under the VISA and Mastercard schemes as the next step of that process. The company will submit reference cards based on the Pay ONE model to both institutions, though Løvestam stressed that both VISA and Mastercard have already validated Pay ONE by certifying the F.CODE biometric payment card from IDEMIA. The F.CODE card features the Pay ONE platform alongside IDEX’s IDX3405 fingerprint sensor.
In other news, Løvestam credited Zwipe’s effective sales strategy for the company’s expanding customer base. The company has marketed biometric cards directly to financial institutions in an effort to raise awareness and enthusiasm, even though the card manufacturers are Zwipe’s actual clients. The company is also taking steps to diversify its portfolio, most notably with the introduction of a new card-based access control solution.
According to Zwipe’s ROI Calculator, a US card issuer with a 1 million card portfolio stands to get a $15 million return on their investment every single year. The company is supplementing Pay ONE with services like the Zwipe Experience and Zwipe Insights, which provide clients with pilot support and consumer research, respectively, and it is now working on a new enrollment solution that would allow end users to register on a mobile phone.
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