Biometrics a factor in Australians’ choice of banking, payments and mobile phone providers, new Visa report shows

03/16/2020

Australians are increasingly adopting biometrics for payments and identity authentication, and see the technology as a faster and more secure alternative to traditional methods.

Visa, the global payments network, has today unveiled its latest biometrics research, revealing new data on consumer attitudes towards the use of biometrics to authenticate payments and identities.

The Visa report titled Security, Speed and Simplicity: Why Australians are adopting biometrics, analyses responses from 1,000 cardholders in Australia and signals a growing appetite for the use of biometric authentication, with 58 per cent of Australians already familiar with the technology.

Visa’s Head of Product for Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, Axel Boye-Moller, says the data shows that Australians are increasingly drawn to the convenience, speed and security of biometrics.

“Australians see biometrics as a more secure alternative to traditional authentication methods, with 90 per cent identifying fingerprints as the most secure. Biometrics are also viewed as significantly faster and easier than the traditional password,” Mr Boye-Moller said.

Banks play a particularly critical role in consumers’ adoption of and confidence in biometrics in Australia – 80 per cent of consumers said they are more likely to use biometrics if offered by banks. In fact, about half of the consumers surveyed indicated they would be willing to switch financial institutions (50 per cent), payments providers (49 per cent) or mobile phone companies (44 per cent) to access biometrics.

Australians also value choice when it comes to banking via biometrics, with three out of four wanting to choose their preferred type of biometrics based on familiarity. Fingerprint recognition was the favoured method (77 per cent), followed by eye scan or iris (66 per cent), facial (65 per cent) and voice (54 per cent), vein pattern (48 per cent) and behavioral biometrics (35 per cent).

While biometric adoption for payments is increasing, a lack of education (37 per cent), along with a perceived lack of support from banks (31 per cent) and mobile devices (27 per cent) to offer biometrics are the biggest inhibitors of increased uptake in Australia, showing more room to educate and empower their customers to use biometrics.

Regarding consumers’ perceived benefits of biometrics, the freedom to eliminate passwords and PIN numbers topped the list (40 per cent), with most of respondents (59 per cent) having abandoned an online purchase after forgetting a password or having trouble logging into their account.

“With the rapid rise of digital commerce, the convenience of biometrics is becoming more attractive to Australians. As this trend continues, biometrics will be an increasingly powerful tool to enable innovative and secure customer solutions,” Mr Boye-Moller said.

Click here to download a copy of the report. (5.86 MB)

 

About the report
The Visa Security, Speed and Simplicity: Why Australians are embracing biometrics report analysed responses of 1,000 Australian credit cardholders aged 18 and over. The research was conducted through an online survey by Fabrizio Ward, LLC in April 2019.

About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/blog.html and @VisaNews.