OSLO: IDEX Biometrics ASA, a leading provider of advanced fingerprint identification and authentication solutions, announced that IDEX’s fingerprint sensor and Tongxin Microelectronics’ Co., Ltd. (TMC) secure element have been included in a biometric payment card certified by China UnionPay.

This is the first biometric payment card to be certified by China UnionPay.

TMC is a leading secure element supplier in China focused on the smart card industry and is partnering with IDEX to accelerate biometric smart card adoption. This successful certification leverages the collaboration that was announced less than a year ago.

A key part of IDEX’s strategy is to partner with secure element industry leaders such as TMC for providing solutions to all global card manufacturers. This ensures compatibility between the secure element and IDEX’s biometric solutions, and simplifies the card manufacturer’s development process.

“This certification uses TMC’s most advanced secure element and we expect to see it in many biometric cards in the future. When combined with IDEX’s TrustedBio (TM) solution it enables a high performance solution which fully leverages the level of flexibility and integration in our next generation product to provide the lowest cost solution and industry leading performance,” said Vince Graziani, CEO of IDEX Biometrics.

John Zou, Vice President at TMC added: “We are excited to start seeing the results of the collaboration with IDEX Biometrics and to take the reference design to our customers. We see IDEX as a critical partner for driving the adoption of biometric cards, especially in China and the broader Asia Pacific region. We are looking forward to continued success with their next generation solution.”

Tongxin Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (TMC) is a fabless chip design company focusing on smart cards and related technologies.