Bank of Cyprus is currently conducting a pilot scheme on the new technology for contactless payments via a fingerprint-activated debit card.It is being conducted in phases to iron-out any technical glitches along the way before deciding when to roll out the card to its wider customer base.Around a 100 bank clients have been issued the biometric card to monitor the results which are said to be “satisfactory” and the data will be reviewed once the test phase is complete.The bank was unable to give the Financial Mirror a timeline for when the cards will be widely available as that would also depend on the final test results.But the card does not come cheap – like any other premium credit card – those wanting to acquire one will need to pay more than EUR 100 subscription a year.Dutch company Gemalto, a world leader in digital security, was selected by Bank of Cyprus to supply the world's first EMV biometric dual interface payment card for both chip and contactless payments.It uses fingerprint recognition instead of a PIN code to authenticate the cardholder, the card is compatible with existing payment terminals already installed in Cyprus.When customers place their fingerprint on the sensor, a comparison is performed between the scanned fingerprint and the reference biometric data securely stored in the card.
Bank of Cyprus tests fingerprint card
