Italian banking group Intesa Sanpaolo has partnered with Gemalto to test the country’s first Mastercard biometric contactless payment card.

Under the arrangement, Gemalto will supply the cards required by Intesa Sanpaolo to carry out the pilot launch in Turin, Milan and Rome, which is expected to last 16 weeks.

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The biometric contactless card will enable tap-any-pay transactions at any EMV point-of-sale (POS) terminal. The payments can be authenticated with customer’s fingerprint.

Besides, the card is powered by the terminal, eliminating the need for battery and limit on the number of transactions.

Intesa Sanpaolo partnership

Intesa Sanpaolo operates 4,400 branches across Italy. Customers can undergo on-the-spot fingerprint enrolment for the new card at selected locations. The partners intend to add at-home enrolment service in the future.

To ensure privacy, biometric data is stored on the card rather than the bank’s servers. Additional protection is offered through encryption of the personal data.

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Gemalto executive vice-president of banking and payment Bertrand Knopf added: “Consumers are quickly recognising the combined power of contactless and biometric technologies to take the stress and strain out of secure transactions.

“We are delighted to work with Intesa Sanpaolo and Mastercard on another pioneering project, this time bringing the effortless safety of a biometric sensor EMV card to their consumers.”

The Dutch digital security firm added that the biometric contactless card can be used with existing EMV card terminals, without the need for merchants to upgrade their hardware or software.

For issuers, the product helps in detecting and preventing fraud, increases approval rates, minimises operational costs and promotes customer loyalty.