Bank Pocztowy’s press office recently boasted that next month it will begin family and friend’s testing of Poland’s first biometric payment card. The project is being carried out jointly with Mastercard, Fiserv Polska (formerly First Data Polska) and card manufacturer, Thales. poland biometric card

According to Bank Pocztowy’s press release, once the tests are completed in December, the biometric card will enter into the permanent offer addressed to institutional customers. It is possible, however, that in the further future individual customers of Bank Pocztowy will also be able to use the innovation.

According to the description sent, any payment made with the biometric card, regardless of the amount, will require biometric authorization. To do this, simply place your thumb on the special sensor on the front of the card. If the fingerprint matches the pre-encoded biometric template, a green diode will light up and the transaction can be completed. The biometric template of the fingerprint will be stored only on the card, so it will not be retained in banking systems, POS terminals or ATMs.

In Poland, the biometric card is a novelty, but in the world not quite. Tests have been conducted for a long time by several different banks. It seems to me that this innovation is being introduced to the market with a big delay. Currently, virtual payment cards, stored in digital wallets such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, are gaining popularity very quickly. In this case, a plastic card, which is at risk of being lost or having its data read by outsiders, is not needed at all.

In the first edition of limited sales, 950 biometric cards are offered. First, sales are launched for customers who already have an account at Bank Pocztowy.

– Biometric cards are a completely new quality in the security of cashless transactions. A fingerprint, or more precisely the obtained biometric pattern of a fingerprint, is something unique for every human being. This means that the risk of a contactless transaction by someone other than the rightful cardholder is eliminated. I hope that providing individual customers with biometric cards will further popularize non-cash transactions in Poland. We are the first bank in the domestic market to introduce this innovative solution for individual clients and at the same time one of the few in Europe – comments Sylwia Kosidło, Director of the Digital Banking and Payment Services Department of Bank Pocztowy Postal Bank.

–The card is not only extremely safe thanks to biometrics but also has benefits such as online shopping insurance or the Mastercard Bezcenne Chwile loyalty program. The customer can withdraw cash free of charge from all ATMs in the world. The card is delivered by courier, along with a small device, thanks to which the customer can register a biometric pattern of two fingerprints on the card – we have added the possibility of registering a second finger for the convenience of our customers, in the event of an occupied one hand, or payment made most often with the left hand, as with paying for the highway from the car or ordering food on the way. A biometrically secured card can be used by the customer both in a contactless and traditional way, no PIN is required – which is often a barrier to the use of cards, – adds Joanna Moskalik, Head of the Payment, Deposit and Investment Products Department.

All transactions can be carried out with a biometric card, some will require a PIN code, e.g. it will be required for cash withdrawals from ATMs and deposits at CDMs. You can also use the card to make online payments and add to digital wallets made available by the Bank.

A special free online shopping insurance package includes, among other things, protection against loss of purchases up to PLN 6,000 within 30 days of purchase. By using this solution, customers of Bank Pocztowy have the option to extend the warranty for all consumer electronics/household appliances and electronic products purchased up to PLN 6,000 by 1 year. They can also get a refund of up to PLN 2,000, if it turns out that the product they purchased can be purchased cheaper in another store, thus customers are guaranteed the lowest price. poland biometric card

The cards and the readers needed to register the biometric fingerprint pattern are provided by the French company Thales, which is the author of this innovative product. Importantly, the biometric pattern of the fingerprint will be saved only on the payment card. The data will not be stored in the reader, in the bank’s systems, nor sent to the POS terminal or ATM during the payment process.

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