Payments Association Adopts Biometric Verification Specification

The Payments Association of South Africa ("PASA"), the payments system management body of that country, recently announced a new biometric verification specification, which is set to become the standard for biometric payments throughout South Africa. The new specification will facilitate biometric authentication on payment cards. Visa and Mastercard are partners in the initiative.

Typically, biometric authentication standards are particularized to the company or financial institution facilitating payment. The biometric standard accepted for authenticating payment at one vendor would not necessarily, or even generally, be the same as the standard accepted at another vendor. The PASA standard is designed to eliminate or at least minimize these discrepancies and permit authentication of a payment via the same biometric standard at any vendor.