A professional trade fair on “trust-based” technologies, took place. There, we heard about open banking, PSD2 – which isn’t a games console but the acronym of a European directive which aims to open up payments -, security protocols and identification. We also heard about connected objects, virtual and augmented reality, biometrics and connected stores. Visitors came from different sectors : banking, insurance, automotive, energy, business… One of the events underlying questions caught our attention: how will we pay in the future?
In the West, there is nothing new: at the moment, the major concern is the (rather successful) launch of contactless payments which French people are increasingly using. In 2018, there were 2 billion transactions compared to 1.2 billion the previous year. And forecasts indicate there will be over 3 billion transactions in 2020. Success wasn’t guaranteed as this “new” technology was launched ten years ago
Pay your AI
One could also evoke the buzz surrounding the delicate matter of artificial intelligence. For Sam Murrant, an analyst at Global Data, “unlike the hype around cryptocurrency and mobile payments, the big players are putting their money where their mouths are. Not only is AI the talking point of the day: it is also a change that is actually happening in the market.”
Sam Murrant highlighted how Amazon had created a “naturalistic approach” of the payment experience with its Amazon Payments service. In other words, it created a more fluid experience. Amazon is aspiring to a boom in vocal assistants. The payment process would then go through conversation and a conversation needs to flow as much as possible. The Mastercard company is focusing on AI to reinforce its fraud detection system and believes that over time, we will be able to replace classic authentication via password by practically invisible authentication, based on the user’s behaviour.
“ We are working on behavioral biometrics. The way you tap your screen, the speed at which you type and how you tilt the screen of your smartphone”
Moreover, on the TV channel LCI, Olivier Gabrielli, the Head of Innovation and Digital Payments at MasterCard France explained that they are working on “behavioral biometrics. The way you tap your screen, the speed at which you type and how you tilt the screen of your smartphone: all these elements put together make it possible to know whether you or someone else is using your phone.” Few Trustech participants would dare to claim that this means that every single physical support will disappear.
And indeed, when one knows that FaceID, Apple’s facial recognition system; has been tricked by a fake 3D head in the past (or the invention of an anti-iPhone X mask), one can well believe that good old bank cards still have bright days ahead.
From numerical to digital
And Michael Gardiner, Chief Executive Officer at Tactilis, agrees. “The death of the bank card has been predicted for years”, he boasted whilst presenting his solution. This solution consists of a “physical” card with an integrated biometric fingerprint reader – the user is therefore identified by their finger – which enables a contactless payment that is more effective than a classic payment. The director pointed out another advantage: added security. Michael Gardiner highlighted that card and pin thefts are still frequent today. With the solution he is offering, the digital print is recorded within the card itself: “ We can avoid fraud. And if you lose your card, no-one else will be able to use it voice engineer.
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