Already introduced by BNP Paribas, the biometric bank card arrives in September in the regional banks of Crédit Agricole. How does it work? How much does it cost? And, above all, is it really of interest to bank users?

From blue to biometric. In the space of 50 years, the bank card has established itself as the preferred means of payment for French people for their daily transactions. Last year, more than one in two purchases were paid for by bank card, according to the Banque de France's Observatory for the Security of Means of Payment, with a rise in the power of contactless payment, boosted by the increase in 50 euros from its ceiling. New step: some banks are now promoting a new way to pay “contactless” using a biometric card.

What is a biometric bank card?

The biometric card is an alternative to the 4-digit secret code to secure a payment in store. Like the biometric passport, the bank card contains the fingerprint of its owner. It is compared at each transaction with that of the person who wants to use the card. If the two fingerprints are identical, the purchase is accepted. Otherwise the payment is refused.

In concrete terms, the biometric bank card is equipped with a small fingerprint reader on which the customer puts his thumb at the same time as he brings his card to the payment box. Gesturely, it looks like unlocking via the smartphone's fingerprint key. Moreover, it is the digital companies Google and Apple in the West that are at the origin of the democratization of biometrics as an authentication system. The fingerprint sensor on the card is powered either by a small internal battery (for the Thalès card offered by BNP Paribas) or by using energy directly from the payment terminal (for the Giesecke+Devrient card distributed by Crédit Agricultural).

Which banks offer a biometric card?

Two French banks have officially positioned themselves on the biometric bank card at the time of writing. The first to have passed the test phase is called BNP Paribas. Following the full-scale experiment started in the fall of 2020, the bank confirms to MoneyVox that it has generalized the marketing of its biometric card in the first half of the year, "which is now available in all our branches", assures BNP Paribas. “All of our customers who may have a Visa Premier card can order a biometric card by contacting our advisors who have been trained for this new product”, continues the bank.

Read also: BNP Paribas: the 3 projects that will change customer habits in 2021

After a long-term pilot in three regional banks (Touraine Poitou, Ille-et-Vilaine and Pyrénées Gascogne), Crédit Agricole has also decided to take the stage of marketing to the general public. The launch of its biometric card will begin gradually from September. Because, mutualist group obliges, each regional bank has a certain freedom to fix its catalog. Half of the 39 regional mutuals would already like to offer it to their customers.

To our knowledge, other French banks are also working on the biometric card, including Société Générale. "The second generation of products seems very promising to us in terms of functionality, performance and prices," the red and black bank told MoneyVox.

Why have a biometric card?

Intuitively, it is tempting to say that this method of authentication will serve to improve the security of transactions. However, this is not the only or the main reason given by the distributing banks, insofar as credit card fraud is particularly rare in local shops. In 2020, 1 euro was misappropriated for every 11,110 euros paid by card in store. Regarding contactless payment specifically, the fraud rate is a little higher but it remains very low, with 1 euro lost for every 7,690 euros paid, and well below ATM fraud (1 euro defrauded every 3,450 euros withdrawn) and during online purchases (1 euro every 575 euros paid).

“The use of fingerprints has become familiar with smartphones. This allows you to no longer have to enter your PIN code and to exceed the regulatory ceiling of 50 euros for contactless payment", explains Pierrick Delolme, Crédit Agricole account manager for the company Giesecke+Devrient, which manufactures and personalizes the cards of the green bank. In the context of the pandemic, BNP Paribas puts forward the hygienist argument. “The biometric card is therefore a reassuring technology at a time of barrier gestures and it brings even more serenity and security to our customers”, completes the communication from BNP Paribas. However, this technology comes at a cost.

How much does it cost?

According to an opinion survey conducted in 2020 in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada and Australia, and initiated by the Swedish company Fingerprints specializing in digital biometrics, half of the 2,000 respondents said they were ready to pay 9.5 dollars more per year for a biometric card, i.e. approximately 8 euros at the current rate. For now, French banks are moving towards higher pricing. At BNP Paribas, the biometrics option entails an additional cost of 24 euros per year in addition to the usual contribution of 134 euros for the Visa Premier. A priori, Crédit Agricole should adopt a similar pricing, knowing that, even if the central body issues price recommendations, the regional banks can offer a different price, upwards or downwards.

Otherwise, there is still the smartphone to overcome the contactless limit

The biometric bank card is not the only way to circumvent the contactless limit of 50 euros per transaction. Mobile payment applications, which require you to bring your smartphone closer to the payment terminal, also allow this and for free. As in the case of the biometric card, Apple Pay uses the biometric sensor (Touch ID or Face ID) of its devices to identify the customer. In the case of Paylib, which is compatible with Android telephones, the application access code is requested for in-store payments exceeding 50 euros. Samsung Pay, Google Pay, etc., many other smartphone payment applications exist. This free alternative therefore leads some market observers to say that biometric credit cards are a “useless innovation”, to paraphrase the consultant-blogger Patrice Bernard of Cest pas mon idea.

But, for the time being, payment via smartphone is still marginal in France. While only 9% of French people have already used mobile payment, according to data reported by Statista in March 2021, this method of payment is much more common in other European countries. 19% of Belgians and 21% of Spaniards have already tried it. This proportion rises to 31% in Poland. “The mobile is starting to emerge, confirms Pierrick Delolme. But customers are used to the card, which remains a good format. Historically, there are few means of payment that have been definitively replaced by another. Cheques, banknotes, we still produce them. The market therefore tends more towards a multiplication than a uniqueness of means of payment”.

Can all bank cards be biometric?

Yes but no. Technologically, nothing prevents banks from equipping their classic and balance-check cards with fingerprint readers. However, BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole have chosen to only offer this option on certain premium cards: the Visa Premier for BNP Paribas, the Gold Mastercard and the World Elite Mastercard for the green bank. “We are currently studying the possibility of extending the solution to other types of cards”, indicates BNP Paribas to the editorial staff.

Does the bank get hold of your fingerprints?

No. “Fingerprints are stored in a secure element located in the bank card. They never come out. No one has access to fingerprints”, explains Pierrick Delolme. The same goes for the Thales biometric payment card. "A simple but rigorous enrollment procedure has been put in place in the agency so that the biometric data never leaves the card", underlined in July by press release Jean-Marie Dragon, head of payments and cards at BNP Paribas.

While BNP Paribas has opted for in-branch enrollment, Crédit Agricole will provide, at the same time as the card, a device that allows customers to record their fingerprints remotely. “They insert their card into the box and the screen tells them what steps to take. The objective is to present your right thumbprint 10 times, one last time to validate that the print has been registered. Then the customer does the same thing with his left thumb, explains Pierrick Delolme, who takes care of the Crédit Agricole biometric card. This is a technological choice made by Crédit Agricole, which has decided to record two fingerprints for practical reasons. Because if for any reason the user has a degraded fingerprint, he can use his other thumb”. Similarly, the group could also have gone through a mobile application to record the fingerprints on the card.

Is the secret code really over?

Not quite. The biometric card is also linked to a 4-digit code which validates the transaction. “The contact is a fallback solution when payment by imprint is refused. The customer then inserts the card into the reader and enters his PIN code like a traditional transaction,” explains Pierrick Delolme. This can happen if the authorized number of successive contactless transactions is exceeded "a security choice configurable by the bank", indicates the manager of Giesecke+Devrient , malfunction or incompatibility of the payment terminal, which is rare. “The card is based on the same configuration as mobile transactions which work on 90-95% of terminals”, assures Pierrick Delolme.