TECHNOLOGY
launch of the world ’ s first contactless payment card featuring an integrated fingerprint sensor in 2014 . “ Biometrics is the next frontier ,” Reeg says . “ The issue you have now is people hate trying to remember 20 unique passwords , which actually aren ’ t that secure , so there is a double benefit here of convenience and security at the same time . I believe that in the next five years biometrics will become the primary method of verification .”
Expanding Mastercard ’ s reach The Masterpass launch and acquisition of C-SAM is one of many examples of Mastercard acquisitions bearing fruit in terms of yielding expertise . Although a lot of development is carried out in-house , the company has made that house significantly larger via a series of acquisitions during the past few years .
Reeg continues : “ One of the most significant was the acquisition of Orbiscom in 2008 , headquartered in Dublin . They had a product we really liked that we have re-named ‘ In Control ’, that helps people manage where and who uses their digital money .
“ Even more significant than the product itself , however , have been the people we acquired , and they have been key in changing the landscape of innovation at Mastercard . Their CEO Garry Lyons became our Chief Innovation Officer .”
Another acquisition , this time in the marketing sphere , was the purchase of APT in Virginia in
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