Zwipe is a technology provider that enables ultra-low-power biometric authentication solutions for Financial Services. Mission is to “Make Convenience Secure” for banks, merchants and consumers.

Project Information

ZWIPE

Grant agreement ID: 849538

DOI

10.3030/849538

Project closed

EC signature date 29 March 2019

Start date 1 April 2019

End date 30 April 2022

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 4 826 002,50

EU contribution

€ 2 297 400,00

Coordinated by

ZWIPE AS
Norway

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - ZWIPE (Zwipe is a technology provider that enables ultra-low-power biometric authentication solutions for Financial Services. Mission is to “Make Convenience Secure” for banks, merchants and consumers.)

Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2022-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The project's overall objective is to develop a new biometric technology platform for the next generation of payment cards, impacting society, consumers, retailers, and financial institutions worldwide. Zwipe will deliver mass production ready biometric authentication components and functionality for contactless biometric payment cards customized to the current manufacturing process. The overall objective of the project is met.

The project's development is a highly integrated single-chip specially designed for biometric payment cards and an energy-harvesting solution. This solution will have superior energy efficiency and performance while substantially reducing the production cost of biometric payment cards.

As consumers started to avoid touching the PIN terminal in fear of infection, contactless card payments became very popular in Europe and abroad. However, with the current technology, all contactless payments are unauthorized and unsecured. Due to the risk of fraud, financial institutions and card schemes historically have set relatively low contactless transaction limits before a PIN is required.

A new trend is that governments increase both the limit for a single transaction and the cumulative limit before using a PIN to meet consumers demand for a more hygienic check-out.

We see strong interest from smart card manufacturers, payment processors, banks, payment schemes and retailers, and leading payment companies are now joining our growing ecosystem.

The cost and performance of biometric cards have been prohibitive for mass deployment until now. Our biometric technology will simplify the card manufacturing process, thus reducing the cost of biometric payment cards and wearables. A biometric payment card powered by our new payment platform will provide a superior user experience, making convenience safe and secure.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

We achieved all milestones defined in the grant agreement in the first reporting period, which ploughed the ground for the next reporting period: Several invention disclosures for biometric card energy harvesting, data processing and system-level solutions were filed during the term.

During the second reporting period, the project passed several milestones in developing the technology platform. We have ensured that the technology is compliant with inter-industry standards and that a reference design product based on the technology developed meets market requirements for mass production. Extensive work has ensured close to manufacturing readiness. The project has successfully developed and qualified the essential components for a biometric smart cards. The technology has successfully been demonstrated publicly with demo cards.

The project has also exploited the advantages of the biometric-application integration circuit developed to create a wearable design. A wearable version and samples have been manufactured using the current design. In addition, a prototype is developed.

Mass deployment of a payment card requires certification by a laboratory accredited by payment schemes. The final reporting period focused on getting the components and reference cards to a level where they can be submitted for scheme certification.

The chip certification by EMVCo was already obtained with ICCN in November 2019. The extensive tests for the ISO plate module and finished cards have been a tough challenge for a small company like Zwipe. Thanks to the combined experience of inhouse experts and external partners, the certifications progressed according to plan.

Zwipe achieved Visa LOA certificate in March 2022 and is close to achieve Mastercard CCS.

Zwipe has, through the project worked closely with partner to build a global market expansion plan, which has been carried out. Zwipe has obtained strategic alliances in all relevant parts of the payment ecosystem and on several continents.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project succeeded in creating technically superior components at an attractive price level and the company received first commercial orders from card manufacturers. A first banking pilot has been launched in Finland and several banks in Europe and middle east have committed to more pilots. Mass deployment of biometric payment cards based on Zwipe Pay are expected from 2023. The global market expansion plan was developed further including a strengthened partner network.

There is demand from different stakeholders in the Payment Ecosystem to facilitate the adoption of Biometric Payment Cards.
• Regulators: Requiring strong customer authentication (as under Directive (EU) 2015/2366 - Payment Services Directive ("PSD2") in the EU)
• Governments: Focusing on biometric solutions to minimize fraud and identity issues (e.g. healthcare and social benefits), minimize infections and increase peace of mind.
• Payment Schemes: Want to strengthen the growth of Contactless Payments by improving convenience, security and hygiene, as well as introducing industry mandates to ensure infrastructure readiness.
• Retailers: Want consumers to have a hygienic, safe and practical in-store check-out experience.
• Issuer: In addition to differentiation and providing their customers with peace of mind and the latest technology, issuers are seeking to reduce fraud and skimming.
• Consumers: Want a significant uplift in today's contactless payment experience, where a PIN code is frequently required.

Zwipe identified opportunities with the new technology platform to be applied within access control and started developing a dedicated product called Zwipe Access.

The technology developed in the project has the potential for great socio-economic impacts and entails beneficial societal implications for different stakeholders. The technology is not only favourable for cardholders. Across developing markets in Africa, South America and the Indian sub-continent, multi-application smart cards bring identity and payment together, authenticating users to allow effective and accurate distribution of government-based welfare payments. Adding biometric functionality to government distributed payment cards for welfare benefits will help reduce fraud, especially in markets where government official credentials or identity documents are not readily available. Furthermore, leveraging biometrics to push government payments through digital channels can help drive financial inclusion and facilitate access to financial services.

Execution on the global market expansion plan, combined with a comprehensive partnership portfolio, increased demand from consumers and relevant stakeholders, and the cost-, mass production readiness and performance of the technology platform. Zwipe is confident that the products developed during this funded project will be a commercial succeess.

Zwipe