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JCB Pilot of Japan’s First Fingerprint Authentication Chip Card from IDEMIA

JCB Co. Ltd, the only international payments brand based in Japan, will conduct a pilot trial of its latest JCB Biometrics Card with fingerprint authentication. JCB Contactless’s payment solution is provided by IDEMIA, a global Augmented Identity leader. Toppan Printing will also take part in the demonstration trial in respect of card personalization.

Users first record one or more fingerprints for authentication purposes. When they want to buy something, they need only touch the fingerprint sensor on the card’s lower right corner with their finger so as to authenticate payment. The fingerprint record is only kept in the card, and given that fingerprint authentication is also done on the card, merchants do not need any further equipment to accept payment.

While currently most contact chip cards rely on users entering a PIN number for authentication, will be replaced by the fingerprint authentication. With the new JCB Biometrics Card strict security is upheld with fingerprint authentication for any payment method, while maintaining efficiency and speed.

The pilot trial first involves issuing the JCB Biometric Card to JCB employees from April. Once card users have recorded their fingerprints using a smartphone or tablet app, they can make purchases via fingerprint authentication at merchants accepting JCB Contactless payments. The purpose of the pilot is to validate whether the solution is convenient for consumers and practical for the payment.

JCB will continue to explore and develop various authentication solutions in order to provide consumers with reliable and secure customer experiences.