Biometrically authenticated mobile payments to reach $1.2 trillion by 2027

Security regulations to drive adoption of biometric authentication systems

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A new study from Juniper Research has found that the value of biometrically authenticated remote mobile payments will reach $1.2 trillion globally by 2027; rising from $332 billion in 2022. 

These transactions use biometrics, typically facial and fingerprint recognition, to authenticate remote mobile payments. This growth of 365% is driven by recent regulatory changes, with the introduction of SCA (Strong Customer Authentication) pushing greater adoption.

The new research, Mobile Payment Biometrics: Key Opportunities, Regional Analysis & Market Forecasts 2022-2027, identified OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer)-Pay solutions, including Apple Pay, as a driver of mobile payment biometrics adoption. The report urged OEM-Pay vendors to use their influence over smartphone design to enhance built-in biometric systems within devices and ensure that security is maintained as new threats emerge.

SCA critical to market growth

The SCA requirement of PSD2 (Second Payment Services Directive) has pushed financial institutions to implement biometric authentication. To meet this requirement, financial institutions have capitalised on smartphone biometric authentication capabilities; accelerating the technology’s adoption. The research found that the volume of biometrically authenticated remote mobile payments will grow by 383% over the next 5 years, reaching 39.5 billion globally by 2027.

To maintain trust and reduce fraud, financial institutions are implementing step-up authentication, where certain transactions are escalated for biometric approval based on risk scoring. Therefore, vendors must offer multiple ways to authenticate, as well as developing new techniques to keep biometrics secure.

Facial recognition to boost mobile biometrics adoption in payments

The report found that facial recognition is paving the way for greater adoption of biometrics in mobile payments, with OEM-Pay solutions leveraging the near ubiquity of facial recognition capabilities to provide frictionless checkout experiences for customers. With the use of facial recognition increasing, the technology has become a target for malicious actors using advanced spoofing techniques, such as digital injection attacks. In response, mobile authentication vendors must prioritise the design and implementation of enhanced liveness detection, and anti-spoofing techniques, to combat the ever-evolving role of fraudulent players and ensure that security is not compromised.

The full report can be found here.