FPC, STMicroelectronics Look to Bring Joint Biometric Card Production Solution to Market

Fingerprint Cards and STMicroelectronics have signed a new agreement to extend their biometric payment cards collaboration to the commercialization phase.

The companies first teamed up last summer, when they announced plans to develop a “Biometric System-on-Card” (or “BSoc”) solution for the production of biometric payment cards. Their effort saw the combination of Fingerprint Cards’ T-Shape 2 sensor module together with ST’s ST31 Secure Element and its STM32 microcontroller, into a solution now officially dubbed “STPayBio”.

The solution is aimed at making it easier to integrate biometrics into the standard card manufacturing process, enabling a number of card makers around the world to pivot to the production of fingerprint-scanning payment cards.

The next step for FPC and ST is to bring the solution to market, which is what their new MoU entails.

“Achieving this second step of STMicroelectronics and Fingerprints collaboration by providing a proven BSoC integrated solution, we are confirming our strong partnership with Fingerprints and have all the key ingredients to provide a commercial solution bringing increased level of security and convenience for issuers and card holders,” explained STMicroelectronics Secure Microcontrollers Marketing Director Laurent Degauque.

The development arrives after news concerning some important milestones for FPC’s efforts in the nascent biometric payment cards market last month. France-based Crédit Agricole, considered the world’s largest cooperative financial institution, revealed that it would be offering biometric Mastercards featuring FPC technology to its customers throughout the country; and another of FPC’s partners, Kona I, received approval for its own biometric payment card solution from a major US payment network.

“Biometric payment cards can offer value to consumers across the globe, and demand is growing quickly now that we’re seeing commercial launches in Europe,” explained Fingerprint Cards’ Payments & Access SVP, Michel Roig.

FPC and STMicroelectronics expect their go-to-market effort to result in customer samples of the STPayBio solution in the third quarter of this year.

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May 20, 2021 – by Alex Perala