Biometric EMV card manufacturer SmartMetric is getting ready for the commercialisation of its technology. Robin Arnfield talks to the US-based business’s president and CEO, Chaya Hendrick
Founded 15 years ago, Las Vegas-headquartered SmartMetric has filed patents on technology that allows it to embed a biometric fingerprint scanner into an EMV card. SmartMetric has also developed a biometric-enabled ID card offering physical access to buildings and doorways, and cybersecurity for network log-on. The multifunction credit card-sized device uses a Federal Information Processing Standards approved contact smart card chip with MiFare secure radio-frequency identification transmission.
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SmartMetric has also developed a small, low-cost smart card reader that can be connected via USB to a computer or smartphone, and can be bundled with its cards for secure card-not-present transactions and for remote network access.
“Our biggest development hurdle was to get electronic components that are thin enough to be implanted inside a credit or debit card,” says Hendrick. “We needed a two-layer sophisticated motherboard that would allow the mounting of the components and remain in the tolerance needed for an ISO-compliant payment card.”
Hendrick says almost 50% of the battle was about the size of the components. “The other 50% was about developing our own operating system and power management system,” Hendrick explains. “We had to put over 150 adaptive components onto the motherboard. The lamination process and assembly were other issues we had to deal with to ensure a super-thin board electronic assembly.”
Hendrick claims SmartMetric is the only card manufacturer to have succeeded in this. “We’re the only manufacturer to have developed a card that not only does the
fingerprint scanning itself but is also self-powered,” Hendrick tells CI. “Inside our card is a rechargeable battery that recharges as you use the card in a POS terminal or ATM.”
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By GlobalData“Another card manufacturer has developed a biometric-enabled card where the cardholder places their finger on the card to authenticate themselves, but its card doesn’t have an internal power sub-system. It has to get its power from a POS terminal and doesn’t work in the majority of ATMs,” Hendrick adds.
“The feedback we’re getting from banks is that they aren’t interested in issuing biometric cards that can’t be used in ATMs. Even if their cardholders use ATMs infrequently, their cards still need to work in ATMs.”
Internal power source
A SmartMetric news release explains that, as its card has an internal power source,
cardholders authenticate themselves by tapping their finger on the card before inserting it into a POS or ATM terminal. Wherever the card is used, it will be able to both authenticate a transaction and receive a recharge inside the reader.
“We’re working closely with a global payments network,” Hendrick says. “But we’re under non-disclosure agreements, so can’t say which of the four top global cards networks is our partner.” Hendrick did, however, say the partner is not Mastercard, so CI assumes it must be either Amex, Visa or UnionPay.
“We’ve been appointed as the technology partner for the payments network’s biometrics division, which deals both with biometrics for cards and biometrics for smartphones,” Hendrick says.
In recent years, some ATM vendors have begun to offer ATMs equipped with biometric readers. In addition, the advent of TouchID on iPhones and similar biometric identification on Android smartphones means consumers have the opportunity to
authenticate themselves when making mobile payments either at the POS or remotely.
Hendrick says retrofitting ATMs with biometric readers or replacing existing ATMs with biometric-enabled ATMs would be hugely costly. “There’s also the problem of ensuring cross-platform and cross-network biometric authentication,” Hendrick says.
“We need to deploy biometrics across multiple platforms and across banks. Putting biometric readers into ATMs isn’t going to happen on a massive scale because of the infrastructure cost. I think ATM vendors will offer ATMs with biometric readers mainly for PR purposes. Similarly, adding biometric readers to POS terminals isn’t going to happen. Mom-n-pop stores aren’t going to want to spend the money on the technology.”
Also, despite the card networks’ enthusiasm for mobile payments, Hendrick is not
convinced that the majority of consumers are going to leave their cards at home in favour of smartphones any time soon. “Consumer behaviour just doesn’t change that fast,” Hendrick says. “People aren’t going to stop using plastic cards.”
“We have appointed two accredited Visa and Mastercard secure card lamination and personalisation manufacturers as our representatives respectively in the US and South America,” Hendrick continues.
“These two firms have decades of relationships with card-issuing banks in the US and South America, and they are presenting our product to banks across North and South America respectively.” The distributors are Colombia-based Hogier Gartner for South America and Protec Secure Card, based in New Jersey, for North America.
SmartMetric’s secure manufacturing plant is accredited by Mastercard, Visa and UnionPay for the initial lamination of payment cards, Hendrick says. “The final-stage lamination and personalisation is done by our two distributors, Protec and Hogier Gartner, or by a bank’s existing bank card personalisation and lamination supplier,” Hendrick concludes.
“We don’t license cards. We actually sell the cards, as we manufacture them ourselves. It’s so complex to manufacture our cards that a conventional manufacturer couldn’t produce them – they would need to be an electronic shop, like we are.”
