Abstract

Methods for Verifying Cardholder Authenticity in a Financial Transaction

Cards are currently used by billions of customers worldwide for cashless payment transactions and for cash withdrawals and are therefore of great national economic importance. Since cardholder confidence in an orderly and proper handling of financial transactions is of utmost significance, great importance has always been attached to security when card-based payment transaction systems were designed and developed. One aspect in this regard concerns methods for verifying card-holder authenticity. Especially two methods, i. e. cardholder signature and the personal identification number (PIN), have turned out to be practicable solutions so far, although their application has not been without weaknesses. Against this background, initiatives have been under way for quite some time designed to develop alternative possibilities for verifying the authenticity of cardholders, e. g. biometrical procedures. Within the framework of the present study, the procedures currently applied such as signature and, more importantly, the PIN, as well as future alternatives such as iris recognition, finger print and face recognition, have been evaluated in terms of their acceptability for customers. Based on the results so obtained, implications have been deduced for possible development scenarios as well as for consumer-side marketing methods.