Mastercard is ending the use of one-time passwords (OTPs) in the Asia Pacific region, and will move to facial scans or fingerprints to allow faster, safer online transactions.
The card company says bringing together its technology, including tokenisation, click to pay, and biometric authentication via payment passkeys, to help consumers move faster and safer through online checkouts.
By using Mastercard Click to Pay, online shoppers no longer need to have an account or a saved card-on-file with a merchant to use biometric authentication with payment passkeys, making quick, easy, secure guest checkout a reality.
At the same time, merchants will see fewer abandoned carts, increased sales and fraud protection, while issuers will gain top-of-wallet status and customer security, demonstrating the far-reaching benefits for the entire ecosystem.
It is also a fast follow to the company’s global launch of biometric authentication enabled by the Mastercard Payment Passkey service to millions of consumers in India in August of this year and subsequent extensions to key markets around the world.
In just a few months, the Mastercard Payment Passkey Service has rapidly gained momentum with merchants and continues to scale as leading banks, payment aggregators and online merchants adopt the service.
Despite the popularity of passwords and OTPs, these traditional verification methods are increasingly vulnerable to online scams like phishing or being intercepted by fraudsters via screen mirroring. Eighty per cent of confirmed data breaches globally are related to weak or stolen passwords, so it’s no surprise that the majority of consumers (91%) in Asia Pacific worry about cyber threats.
To address this, Mastercard Payment Passkeys replace traditional passwords and OTPs with biometric authentication, making transactions faster and more secure by eliminating the risk of losing or inadvertently sharing credentials with scammers.
Importantly, by tokenising both payment credentials and biometric authentication, the Mastercard Payment Passkey service ensures that the consumer’s payment credentials and biometric data are never shared with third parties, rendering the data useless to fraudsters and scammers.
“Just as contactless technology made in-person payments seamless and ubiquitous, Mastercard sees the opportunity to bring that same experience to online checkout,” said Mastercard’s Sandeep Malhotra. “With biometric authentication with payment passkeys, shoppers are spared the hassle of cumbersome checkouts while merchants enjoy both speed and security.”
Key benefits of the Mastercard Payment Passkey service include:
-
Hassle-free checkout: Payment passkeys offer a frictionless user experience with no waiting for banking applications or push notifications (an especially tiresome endeavour where poor connectivity is an issue);
-
More sales: Merchants reduce cases of cart abandonment as they make customer transactions faster, easier and more reliable; and
-
Tighter security: By offering biometric authentication, payment passkeys eliminate the risk of passwords being stolen or compromised, protecting shoppers from fraud and scams. Instead of stressing over payment safety, merchants can free up time to focus on customer care and product development to build deeper trust with their customers.
-
When checking out, shoppers select their Mastercard card, either as a guest or from a securely stored card on file with the merchant;
-
They then confirm the payment using biometric authentication on their device, such as a fingerprint or face scan; and
-
Once authenticated, the payment is instantly completed.
In Singapore, eyewear company Lenskart has already started using biometric payments via the Mastercard Payment Passkey Service, supported by Juspay, as well as major local banks such as DBS and UOB, so buying a pair of glasses is quick, secure, and password-free.
“The Mastercard with Payment Passkey Service is a game-changer for e-commerce,” said Lenskart’s Jan Lim. “By eliminating friction points in the customer experience, our glasses are just a click away for shoppers. Meanwhile, instead of having to stress about payment security or order completion, we can focus on creating the best in fashionable eyewear.”
“Launching this industry-first concept in Asia highlights Juspay’s dedication to enhancing e-commerce through innovation and technology,” said Juspay’s COO Sheetal Lalwani. “With the Mastercard Payment Passkey Service, merchants will see higher payment success rates and increased sales while consumers can make secure, biometric payments without multiple redirects, making digital payments seamless and accessible.”
By combining the tokenisation of payment credentials with seamless biometric authentication, Mastercard is bringing EMVCo, World Wide Web Consortium and the FIDO Alliance industry standards together to speed and secure checkouts.
