Mastercard (MA) Ties Up to Unveil Biometric Card in Jordan Mastercard (MA) ties up with JKB to introduce the first World Elite card backed with biometric authentication in the MEA region, thereby leading to seamless and secured contactless payments.
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Mastercard Incorporated MA recently collaborated with Jordan-based banking institution, Jordan Kuwait Bank ("JKB"), in a bid to introduce the first-ever Mastercard biometric card, which is commercially available across Jordan. The card called the Jordan Kuwait Bank Biometric World Elite Mastercard becomes the first World Elite card equipped with biometric authentication in the Middle East and Africa ("MEA") region.
The tie-up will enable JKB's cardholders to use a registered fingerprint at any standard sale terminal point instead of a PIN for conducting fast and seamless digital payments. This provides an added layer of security within the card. Additionally, the new product offering is anticipated to generate hassle-free checkout experiences for in-store purchases by consumers.
Mastercard intends to tap the growing demand of consumers for flexible payment options, with biometrics being one of them. With the latest partnership, MA intends to offer the technologically advanced cards to cater to the inclination of Jordanian consumers toward emerging payment technologies. This is also likely to bolster Mastercard's capabilities, network and presence across the MEA region.
The Mastercard New Payments Index highlights the consumers' affinity toward adopting biometric mode of payments. Two thirds of people surveyed relied more on utilizing biometrics than a PIN number for payment verification purposes. Meanwhile, nearly 50% of respondents in the Middle East and North Africa ("MENA") remain optimistic about utilizing biometric verification methods in future.
The Mastercard Biometric Card has been devised with the help of MA's cutting-edge technology and combines chip technology with a unique fingerprint template on the card for safe and secured verification of cardholders' identity. Such offerings offer protection to merchants, who otherwise might suffer from substantial losses due to inefficient payment verification methods and growing incidence of payment frauds that goes hand-in-hand with surge in contactless payments.
This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) technology company in the global payments industry has been rolling out a diverse range of contactless payment solutions to tap on the prevailing scenario. Though the global economy is gradually recovering from the COVID-19 induced volatilities, specific woes continue to linger. Thereby, contactless transactions will continue even in the post-pandemic era, which hints toward persistence of payment frauds.
Thus, companies offering a comprehensive portfolio of fraud detection solutions for varied industries with higher accuracy will be best positioned to gain in the current scenario. Mastercard has been one such company, which has made consistent efforts to enhance its suite of digital identity services. In June 2021, MA acquired Ekata for extending its identity verification efforts, while assuring safe and securing digital transactions for merchants and customers.
Similar to Mastercard, other companies such as Visa Inc. V, PayPal Holdings, Inc. PYPL and American Express Company AXP resorted to launching several contactless payment solutions and simultaneously, have a comprehensive portfolio of fraud detection solutions in place.
Visa, being a trusted payment facilitator, has more than 25 digital currency wallets linked to its systems. This reinforces the belief of individuals in increased usage of crypto and digital currencies. V's portfolio also comprises biometric payment cards. Meanwhile, Visa launched the Advanced Identity Score in 2020 to minimize digital identity frauds and reduce operational costs linked with identity-related forgeries.
PayPal enables customers to trade cryptocurrencies, which can be done through the company's digital wallet. Being a secure gateway, PYPL provides for biometric and QR-based payments to its customers. For minimizing fraud incidence, PayPal made substantial investments to utilize blockchain technology for boosting digital identity capabilities.
American Express has been making every effort to enhance its digital solutions suite for assisting its merchants and Card members globally. AXP also partnered with online fraud prevention companies namely Accertify, Microsoft and Riskified in June 2021. The move paved the way for integrating American Express fraud identification solution Enhanced Authorization into the fraud management platforms of the three partners with an aim to detect and block fraudulent transactions.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 3.3% in a year against the industry's decline of 19.8%. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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While shares of Visa and American Express have gained 38.2% and 1.2%, respectively, in a year, PayPal's stock has lost 9.4% in the same time frame.
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