The companies’ shared vision is to enable mass volume market take-off and long-term growth for biometric payment cards, by bringing to market a technology platform that will significantly reduce the complexity and cost of the design and production process for biometric payment cards, enabling an accelerated path to mass volumes which will ultimately benefit the issuers and users of cards.

This result is achieved by drastically reducing the number of components, integrating in a single chip the functions that previously required a secure element, a microcontroller, and more than thirty external components, all mounted on a flexible PCB (Printed Circuit Board).

Cards incorporating this new technology are set to be available in the market in H2 2020, with high volume deployment starting in 2021.

"This is a strategic, high profile project for Idemia. We are very excited about what this platform will enable in terms of market growth and the penetration of biometric payment cards. Idemia is delighted to partner with Zwipe, a company with a solid intellectual property portfolio and an expanding global customer network; we are confident that our new solution will command a leading position in the marketplace." said Amanda Gourbault, Executive Vice-President for Financial institutions activities at Idemia.

Zwipe will have worldwide exclusive rights to provide this solution to manufacturers of payment cards, wearables and other payment solutions, and their suppliers, when the product becomes available. Idemia has ownership of this technology and will sell F.Code to its Financial Institutions customers. The aim for Idemia is to bring the best of its technology and vision and drive the growth of the biometric cards market.

"We are excited and proud to enter a significant partnership with Idemia, a prominent global industry leader. The platform represents a technological leap that will serve as a catalyst to enable full biometric payment card costs to come down significantly, driving mass volume market growth and complementing our current and future product portfolios. We look forward to bringing this platform to our customers to continue to shape the biometric payments industry." commented André Løvestam, CEO of Zwipe.