Interswitch, an electronic transaction and payment processing company, has teamed up with Precise Biometrics, a developer of biometric solutions, to deliver Match-on-Card technology to the African banking industry. The partnership has already yielded one project which provides licenses for the product in 42 billion in Nigerian currency.

The partnership is significant to the banking sectors in Nigeria because the country has passed regulations requiring banks to do away with magnetic stripes for banking cards and instead adopting embedded chip cards.

The Match-on-Card technology from Precise enables banks to utilize biometrics for customer authentication at ATMs without having to store any biometric information. Precise Match-on-Card is in the process of storing and matching fingerprint information on a smart card to establish the physical presence of an individual. As the fingerprint information does not leave the card, there is no need for database or online communication, and the cardholder’s integrity is preserved.

Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, MD/CEO, Interswitch, in a statement said, “Interswitch is pleased to enter into this partnership, as Precise Biometrics is the leading provider of biometric Match-on-Card solutions and we believe that our joint efforts and technological know-how will have great commercial potential in the West African region”.