Zwipe Access doesn’t store the full user's fingerprint but only an abstract representation of the characteristic features extracted from the captured fingerprint images. This is called a biometric template. 

The registration of the cardholder’s fingerprint(s) is called enrollment. 

During the enrollment, the fingerprint sensor passes the captured fingerprint images to the biometric secure element (SE) using a secure channel. The biometric secure element then extracts and securely stores the biometric reference data. After this process is completed, all the captured images are deleted and only the extracted biometric reference template is stored in the Zwipe Access card secure memory. 

Likewise, during later verifications, a freshly captured image is passed in over a secure channel from the fingerprint sensor to the secure element. The secure element then extracts another fingerprint template (called the probe template) and compares it with the reference template. An accredited 3rd party laboratory has reviewed this architecture and performed tests per EMVCo, Visa, and Mastercard requirements.

Zwipe Access & Zwipe Pay share the same hardware platform which has undergone the extensive durability testing mandated by payment schemes (Visa & Mastercard) for the daily usage of payment cards. 

The payments ecosystem is constantly trying to manage the inherent trade-off between security and convenience. Often, making a system more secure means making it less convenient to use and vice versa. For example, regulatory authorities and issuers have imposed contactless transaction limits, capping the amount you can spend without cardholder verification. 

Requiring cardholders to enter their PIN after holding their card to the terminal introduces friction to the payment process and, after the Corona pandemic, cardholders are reluctant to touch the PIN pad for hygiene reasons. Biometric payment cards based on Zwipe technology eliminate these issues without compromising security. Zwipe's technology does not require a centralized database: the user's biometric information is encrypted and safely stored on the card and nowhere else, protecting the user's right to privacy.

Zwipe is positioned as a system integrator and an enabler of contactless biometric authentication without the use of batteries. We buy components from various suppliers to build, offer and sell our modular Zwipe Pay platform to smart card manufacturers who laminate the cards and embed the biometric contact plate module and sensor in the card. Then the cards are personalized and sold on to banks as part of a total fulfillment delivery with the requested solution for enrollment.

The card issuer defines the available cardholder verification methods. It is recommended to set fingerprint verification as the primary cardholder verification method with offline or online PIN as fallback. We recommend issuers to configure the cards to always require fingerprint verification.

Zwipe Access does not require a battery to operate. It operates based on the power harnessed from the RF field of the access control reader.