British consumers still favour passwords for making payments online

The research conducted by Paysafe, a global payments provider, found that over half of consumers in the UK (53%) are worried that the shift to biometrics to authenticate online payments will dramatically increase the amount of identity fraud.

According to the data, two thirds (68%) of consumers worry about being able to pay for goods or services without being asked for a password, and only 40% believe that biometrics are more secure than other authentication methods.

Those consumers who didn’t feel comfortable using biometrics identified a lack of trust as their primary reason for avoiding them. The research also revealed further fears around the use of biometrics:

• Over a third (36%) stated they did not want companies having access to their personal biometric details;

• 30% did not know enough about biometrics to trust it;

• Over a quarter (27%) were concerned that their fingerprint could easily be cloned and used to commit fraud;

• 29% said biometrics did not seem safe.

Despite the worries over biometric transactions, adoption continues to grow with more than half (54%) of British consumers having used biometrics to make a payment. When asked what biometrics they had used, fingerprint technology was most commonly used biometric (42%) followed by one in six (17%) having used facial recognition and one in ten (12%) voice-activated technologies.

For more information about Paysafe, please check out a detailed profile of this company in our dedicated, industry-specific online company database.