Analysts at UBS believe that biometric payment cards could capture a 15% share of the card market within the next five years.
It points to declining production costs, the rise of the touch-free economy and a number of successful commercial pilots over the past year in its rationale.
French bank BNP Paribas in January began offering its Visa Premier cardholders the chance to upgrade to a contactless fingerprint option – for a €24 annual fee. Multiple other banks, from SocGen to NatWest, are also trialling the technology.
“In the past few years more than 23 pilots were reported with three commercial launches ongoing,” says UBS. “In conclusion, despite the rise of mobile payment threat to the total cards volume, we believe biometric cards can fuel some growth within the payment cards market.”
