Major Banks, Card Schemes, Retailers And Vendors Launch The World's First Association Dedicated To Wireless Biometric Authentication

Alliance will be working to create a certification standard for biometric authentication technology

Lille, 13th November, 2013 – Pioneering standard-setter, Natural Security has today announced the launch and newly elected governing board of the world's first open Alliance dedicated to secure transactions based on wireless and biometrics.

The Natural Security Alliance is comprised of some of the most influential companies in world from the retail, banking, payment provider, and IT Communities. All Alliance members share a strategic commitment to delivering mission-critical authentication and payment solutions based on biometric technology.

The Natural Security Alliance manages, maintains and enhances the Natural Security strong authentication specifications which uniquely combine wireless technology, a personal device and biometrics. The Alliance is already a success with the initial founding Board, Sponsor and Community level members: AS 24 (TOTAL group), Banque Accord, BizRaiser, BNP Paribas, Carrefour Banque, CITC-EuraRFID, Intervale, Concert International, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel Arkea, Dictao, Elitt, Galitt, Groupe Auchan, Groupement des cartes bancaires CB, ID3, Ingenico, Leroy Merlin, Mastercard, Oberthur Technologies, Paycert, PW Consultants, Sesame Touch, Six Payment Services, Swiss Capital International Group, Trust Designer, UINT, UL.

Cedric Hozanne, CEO of the Natural Security Alliance, commented on the launch, "The Natural Security Standard was developed in response to the authentication method required by the banks, retailers and manufacturers we were working with. We've invested a lot of time, effort and care into developing a truly unique authentication method that solves many modern issues relating to privacy, convenience and universality, including conducting the world's first consumer trial of this technology."

"To encourage and support widespread adoption of this method, we believe that the specifications need to be shared with industry stakeholders and development continued based on their requirements and input. Creating an open Alliance is now the perfect way for us to build an ecosystem that can achieve this."

The Natural Security Alliance is open to all entities with an interest in strong authentication, such as banks, card schemes, retailers, manufacturers, testing and certification bodies.

Newly elected Natural Security Alliance Chairman, Jean-Pierre Viboud commented, "The Alliance was formed to provide a collaborative space for all professionals who are interested in biometrics and new payment systems to share and develop ideas for an open standard. We believe that this information sharing and access to the specifications is one of the main benefits for our members. As chairman my role is to ensure that the Alliance continues to grow and that we achieve, and continue working towards achieving, our missions. Ultimately, we hope that our standards and specifications will be used by everyone developing and using biometric systems for payment, logical access or IT access around the world."

The Natural Security open Alliance has six main goals:

· To gather members from all areas of the payments ecosystem (i.e. banks, merchants, manufacturers, integrators)

· To evangelize & educate the wider payments and consumer communities on the standard and other areas relating to authentication

· To promote and encourage the development of products using the standard

· To license manufacturers of products that use the standard

· To drive evolution of the specifications to fill requirements of the market

· To build an interoperability strategy including tests and certification processes for the standard

The first working-groups will be announced shortly, and topics will include EMV-based face-to-face payments and cash withdrawals, online authentication and mobile wallet for face-to-face payments.

The Natural Security open Alliance welcomes entities from all organisations interested in developing and using the standard and offers three levels of membership, Board, Sponsor and Community. To find out more about the Alliance, please visit www.naturalsecurityalliance.org.

ENDS

About Natural Security Alliance

The Natural Security Alliance is a global community of preeminent companies dedicated to accelerating the adoption and ongoing development of Natural Security Technology based solutions. The Natural Security Alliance is comprised of some of the most influential companies in world from the retail, banking, payment provider, and IT Communities. All Alliance members share a strategic commitment to delivering mission-critical authentication and payment solutions based on biometric technology. Visit www.naturalsecurityalliance.org for more information.