BNP Paribas to distribute fingerprint cards to Premier and Gold customers

BNP Paribas is to roll out its first batch of contactless fingerprint cards this autumn.

The French bank's electronic and innovative payments manager Jean-Marie Dragon told Le Parisien that a first batch of between 10,000 and 15,000 Visa Premier biometric cards will be offered this fall.

The cards, which use technology from Thales and Mastercard, will be distributed to holders of the bank’s Premier or Gold cards.

Fingerprint Cards last year secured an order for over a hundred thousand of its sensors by French card manufacturer Gemalto, marking the first volume order in the biometric smartcard industry.

Switzerland's Cornèrcard teamed up with Gemalto and Visa last year to launch the country's first, limited-edition, biometric Gold card.

The technology, which enables users to make contactless payments above the usual limit by placing a finger on the card at the point-of-sale, has also been tested by numerous banks, including Societe Generale, Credit Agricole, Intesa Sanpaolo and most recently the UK's NatWest.