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SmartMetric promises rollout soon for fingerprint-activated payment card

October 11, 2013

SmartMetric Inc., a developer of fingerprint-activated payment and ID cards, is in "advanced stages" of preparation for the release of a fingerprint-activated payment card in North America, the company said this week in a news release.

The company said that its biometric card is activated when the authorized user places a finger on the built-in fingerprint reader. It is the only card in the world with biometrics built into the card, SmartMetrics said.

According to the release, SmartMetric plans to issue its card to consumers in the United States through a strategic alliance with a card-issuing bank. The release did not say whether such a partnership had been arranged in North America. However, it did say that SmartMetric is in discussion with Banks in Asia and Europe concerning a partnered rollout of its biometric card early in 2014.

SmartMetric said that it plans a limited trial for the latter part of 2013. However, details of the trial were not released.

To date, SmartMetric has been in the news mostly for its legal proceedings against Visa and MasterCard. SmartMetric claims that the companies are infringing on its patent for a process of initiating automatic network connection via a smart chip card reader.

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