Citibank S'pore launches biometric payment service

Citibank S'pore launches biometric payment service

By Lynn Tan, ZDNet Asia
9/11/2006
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,61965886,00.htm

SINGAPORE--Citibank on Wednesday launched a new fingerprint authentication payment service that lets its credit card customers pay for goods and services with a touch of the finger.

Touted by the company as the world's first biometric cardless payment service for credit card transactions, the service uses technology from San Francisco-based biometric authentication vendor Pay By Touch.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, Jonathan Larson, CEO and country business manager of Citibank Singapore, said the service provides customers with greater payment convenience as well as added protection against card fraud.

Holders of the Citibank Clear Platinum Card no longer need to present their plastic card when paying for purchases. Instead, cardholders simply press their finger to a biometric scanner and key in a seven-digit "Personal search Number".

Cardholders can subscribe to the biometric payment service at no charge. Registration takes about three minutes at any biometrics enrolment kiosk at five locations in Singapore, including Citibank's branches at Orchard Road, Paragon, Parkway Parade and Vivo City, as well as popular night-spot Zouk.

To register, customers will have to present a valid photo-identification--such as the national identity card or driving license--and their Citibank credit card for verification.

According to Citibank, the biometric payment service will be available from today at nine merchant locations in the island-state, including retail outlets such as music and IT stores, clubs, restaurants and cinemas.

Larson said that there are plans to introduce the biometric system to more merchants, and added that the biometric service could be applied to other applications, including online banking.

John Morris, president and chief operating officer of Pay By Touch, said credit cardholders can be confident in the payment service which uses "military level encryption".

According to Citibank, disputes over any purchase using the biometric service will be handled in the same way as any other credit card payment.

The Pay By Touch fingerprint system was first used in a supermarket in Seattle in 2002.