Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News

Visa waiver program to use biometrics

Thursday, June 5, 2008

The Department of Homeland Security will begin using a combination of “behavior, biography, biometrics and travel history” as it decides which passengers to admit into the country using the U.S. “visa waiver” program.

The program enables citizens from certain countries to enter without visa applications. The U.S. will begin implementing the changes starting in August. There are currently 27 countries whose citizens are not required to obtain visas for U.S. entry. [end] 

Barnes International announced that its updated Visa GPR Test module now complies with the latest version of Visa’s Global Personalization Requirements.

The updated test tool will offer evaluation of a chip product to ensure it meets industry and payment scheme certification standards. This reduces a product’s time to market as the chip is aligned to Visa Specifications throughout the development life cycle and before applying for official Visa approval.

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Visa Europe has announced that NFC-enabled smart phones from Samsung, LG and Research In Motion have been certified for use with Visa payWave, Visa’s mobile application for payments at the point-of-sale.

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Visa Europe is anticipating a big year for contactless and NFC payments, with issuance projected to leap from 30 million in 2011 to 50 million in 2012.

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Visa has announced that more than 1 million EMV chip-enabled cards have been issued by U.S. financial institutions as of December 31, 2011.

Just 18 months ago there were no Visa-branded EMV chip cards issued in the U.S. according to Visa’s Stephanie Ericksen, who attributes the sudden growth to U.S. issuers accepting Visa’s EMV and mobile payments road map.

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Visa, in partnership with Monitise, has launched a suite of new mobile financial services on its revamped Debit Processing Service platform, enabling mobile phone users to check their account history and balances, transfer funds between accounts, and receive real-time transaction alerts.

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Visa and Imperial Parking Canada Corp. (Impark) are teaming up to offer Visa payWave contactless payments to 72 of its attended parking facilities across Canada.

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