Mastercard, Visa rolling out passkeys for card transactions

Buying online may soon become as simple as looking at your phone. Global card networks Mastercard and Visa are introducing passkeys that will allow users to authenticate card payments with face scans or fingerprints, eliminating the need for onetime passwords (OTPs), according to multiple people in the know.

- AJINKYA KAWALE

For the first time in India, an at-scale OTP-less authentication framework will enable customers to complete credit and debit card transactions using device biometrics at a time when card frauds remain a concern.

"Of our consumers to whom we have shown an option to opt in for passkeys, 30 per cent of them are moving away from OTPs. These are people who also have a higher transacting frequency than those who have not opted in," said Ravi Datla, senior vice-president, customer solutions, Mastercard.

The rollout across networks is expected to be gradual, with customers having an option to opt in for passkeys or continue with OTPs for a while. The rollouts also follow the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) guidelines issued last year that require at least one of the two factors of authentication be dynamically generated or proven, paving the way of biometric verification.