Biometric payment card to generate $5bn in revenues by 2026

Analysts at UBS believe that biometric payment cards could capture a 15% share of the card market within the next five years and the biometric technology could help payment cards retain relevance in the face of mobile payment alternatives.

The proportion of card payments made using contactless technology is increasing rapidly, with an acceleration during the Covid-19 pandemic with people forced to reduce physical contact. Barclaycard, contactless payments accounted for 88.6% of all card payments in 2020.

A the same time , the Swiss bank says increasing penetration of fingerprint sensor cards will drive $5 billion in revenue by 2026. It has said, there is declining production costs, the rise of the touch-free economy and a number of successful commercial pilots over the past year in its rationale.

French bank BNP Paribas in January began offering its Visa Premier cardholders the chance to upgrade to a contactless fingerprint option - for a €24 annual fee. Multiple other banks, from SocGen to NatWest, are also trialling the technology.

“In the past few years more than 23 pilots were reported with three commercial launches ongoing," says UBS. "In conclusion, despite the rise of mobile payment threat to the total cards volume, we believe biometric cards can fuel some growth within the payment cards market.