Biometric Experiment Proves Successful In France

Natural Security recently started a payments trial in two French cities. The innovative company from France is trialing biometric payments, allowing consumers to pay through their finger tips or The experiment was launched in partnership with Banque Accord, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, Groupe Auchan, Ingenico and Leroy Merlin.

Soon after reporting on the company’s pioneering trial PYMNTS.com saw Natural Security at CARTES 2012 where they shared the early results of the trials in Lille and Angouleme. With 150 POS biometric terminals across the two cities, the payments innovator registered almost 2000 transactions in just three weeks. These payments were of a variety amounts, from single digit transactions to payments over €100.

Natural Security affirmed that it saw the experiment as a success and that the amount of payments made and their range of amounts confirms consumers’ trust and interest in biometric payments. Confidence in biometric payments, and Natural Security’s particularly, was re-affirmed with the announced partnership between the provider and Discover for a trial in the US. “I believe that leaving your card in your pocket, simply touching a reader, and having the peace-of-mind that your payment is secured by your fingerprint is a right step in delivering (a) desired payment experience,” said Discover’s Global Head of Emerging Payments, Troy Bernard. “Equally important, there is minimal impact to the existing payments infrastructure as the transaction can be magnetic stripe or EMV-formatted.”