The Hindu Business Line : Gemalto launches smart card for micro-banking

The company has introduced a smart card with biometric authentication for adoption by Financial Information Network and Operations Ltd (FINO) in India. The solution, according to FINO sources, would simplify access to funds and facilitate trade amongst the under-banked.

FINO, incidentally, provides end-to-end banking solutions including smart cards to microfinance partners, banks and non-governmental organisations serving low-income households in urban and rural regions.

(Currently, an estimated 500 million people in these areas are either not served or are underserved by the finance sector.)

According to a release, each FINO card (developed by Gemalto) would be able to hold up to 15 different types of secure applications that facilitate financial services such as deposit remittances, savings, loans, insurance and e-purses.

The card also acts as an electronic statement to log all transactions and can store the last 150 transactions (up to 10 transactions per service). Transactions are validated using biometric authentication.

“The biggest challenge in the microbanking industry is the huge amount of paperwork and human effort traditionally involved in supporting micro-transactions and credit-scoring potential customers.

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