American Express to pilot biometrics for online transactions
American Express is to pilot fingerprint and facial recognition technology throughout its online checkout processes in an attempt to make ID checks “stronger, speedier, and more intuitive”.
American Express pilots biometrics through SafeKey
Through the pilot, which is to be made available to select consumer card members in the US, the New York-based corporation’s SafeKey service will now support the biometric features in addition to identification codes and in-app notifications.
The service’s new fingerprint and facial recognition functionality has been developed using the web authentication technology of the industry consortia FIDO Alliance and the World Wide Web Consortium, and with the success of the pilot pending, is expected to be made available to all American Express consumer card members in the US in “early 2024”.
Speaking on the incorporation of the new features, JJ Kieley, vice president of digital identity and commerce experiences at American Express, conveys the need to develop solutions that “keep us one step ahead of fraudsters”.
“SafeKey’s biometric facial and fingerprint recognition minimises friction while maximising security for our card members at checkout,” he explains, promising that the feature is “as easy as unlocking your phone”.
