New Zealanders embrace biometric payments more than Australian neighbours, with security, speed and simplicity helping drive online sales

02/14/2020

New Zealanders are enthusiastic when it comes to using biometrics as a form of payment, with new data showing a greater interest and familiarity of the technology than our Australian neighbours.

Visa, the global payments network, has today unveiled its latest biometrics research, revealing a growing appetite among New Zealanders for the use of biometric authentication in payments.

The Visa report titled Security, Speed and Simplicity: Why New Zealanders are adopting biometrics, analyses responses from 500 cardholders in New Zealand and 1,000 in Australia, showing New Zealanders are more familiar with biometrics than their neighbours across the Tasman.

The report finds 64 per cent of New Zealanders are familiar with biometrics and 68 per cent have used fingerprint recognition, compared to 58 per cent and 59 per cent in Australia respectively.

New Zealanders see biometrics as a more secure and significantly faster and easier alternative to traditional authentication methods. These findings are important for New Zealand businesses wanting to grow sales and offer world-class customer experiences, says Visa’s Head of Product for New Zealand and South Pacific, Riaz Nasrabadi.

“In today’s digital world, the importance of biometrics in securing commerce is paramount. Yet biometrics also have a key role to play in helping businesses to grow sales through enabling seamless customer journeys and reducing cart abandonment. For example, 73 per cent of respondents said they’ve abandoned an online purchase after difficulty logging in, forgetting their password or not having a card with them,” Mr Nasrabadi said.

Compared to their Australian neighbours, New Zealanders show a greater interest in biometrics. In fact, New Zealanders are considerably more likely to have used biometrics for payments or bank services in the past week (42 per cent) compared to Australians (28 per cent). And more than half of New Zealanders say they would switch banks (54 per cent), payment card providers (53 per cent) and mobile phone providers (52 per cent) to access the technology.

Barriers to adoption still exist, however. New Zealanders are concerned about operational failure, cost and security leaks when it comes to using biometrics, citing a lack of education (41 per cent) as the biggest inhibitor of increased uptake.

“The convenience of digital commerce, whether you’re in store paying with your mobile, in-app or online, is increasingly attractive to New Zealand consumers and businesses alike. As the trend towards digital continues, biometrics will be an increasingly powerful tool to enable innovative and secure customer solutions,” Mr Nasrabadi said.

Click here to download a copy of the report. (6.73 MB)

 

About the report
The Visa Security, Speed and Simplicity: Why New Zealanders are embracing biometric technology report analysed responses of 500 New Zealand credit cardholders aged 18 and over. The research was conducted through an online survey by Fabrizio Ward, LLC in May 2019.

About Visa Inc.
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable and secure payment network - enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VisaNet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analog to digital, Visa is applying our brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce. For more information, visit About Visa, https://usa.visa.com/visa-everywhere/blog.html and @VisaNews.