Biometric payment cards continue to inch their way toward commercial deployments, with Zwipe announcing that a Hong Kong-based partner is now ready to proceed with small-scale manufacturing.

The biometrics specialist first announced its partnership with Toppan Forms Card Technologies (TFCT) in April, framing it as a means to move toward payment card commercialization in the Hong Kong and Macau markets. Now, the companies have announced that TFCT has placed an order that will allow it to begin manufacturing biometric payments cards.

“We have allocated time and space in our manufacturing facilities for producing biometric payment cards powered by Zwipe’s technology,” explained TFCT Deputy Managing Director Joseph Hui. “We are excited to move ahead with Zwipe in this important project to develop the biometric payments market.”

Offering additional commentary on the development, Zwipe CEO André Løvestam emphasized that the “APAC payments market has one of the highest growth rates in the world,” adding later, “We look forward to working closely with TFCT to deliver safer and more secure contactless payments with the disruptive Zwipe Pay ONE platform.”

The announcement comes shortly after Zwipe’s appointment of a new Executive Vice President of Strategy and Channels, and after a Q1 update in which the company affirmed that it has not suffered significant business disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. Zwipe has also teamed up with another Hong Kong-based card manufacturer, Asia Credit Card.