Consumers Prefer Biometrics to PINs in Payments: Mastercard

“Mastercard says that its study revealed that over 90 percent of consumers report using their smartphones more than any other devices…”

Mastercard has issued the results of its Impact of Innovation study, and they bode well for mobile payments.

Conducted over the summer by IPSOS Research, the study collected online surveys from 23,000 bank account holders across Europe, the UK, Russia, the Middle East, and Africa. Respondents were in the 20 – 50 age range.

Mastercard says that its study revealed that over 90 percent of consumers report using their smartphones more than any other devices, and that in the Middle East and Africa, more than 70 percent said they were willing to make purchases with their smartphones. That number was lower in Western Europe, at only 38 percent, but those respondents nevertheless “chose their smartphone as an alternative to the plastic card,” according to a statement from the company.

Mastercard also asserted that consumers reported that they would “rather use biometrics than PIN codes when it comes to paying for things – saying they’d prefer fingerprint recognition,” though the company did not offer specific data supportng this claim.

It all points to the emergence of mobile payments as an important new way to pay as the traditional financial services industry undergoes its digital revolution.