NXP sets out its vision for the future of NFC payments

NXP's Sebastien Clamagirand at Trustech
FUTURE: NXP’s Sebastien Clamagirand explained what’s next in NFC to editor Sarah Clark at Trustech

PARTNER NEWS: Combining convenience with security is the key to unlocking the next wave of NFC payments innovations, Sebastien Clamagirand, general manager of NXP’s payment and identification business, has told NFC World in an interview at the Trustech show in Cannes.

The chip maker unveiled an array of next-generation payments solutions at the show, including a biometric payment card module, a face recognition-based payments demonstration, an open loop contactless card chip with a sub-200ms transaction time and a secure access module (SAM) that supports both short-range contactless and longer range RFID transactions.

“Our mission is to deliver convenient, secure and innovative solutions that leverage the leading role we play on all sides of the payments ecosystem — from contactless payment and transit cards to NFC phones and wearables, contactless readers, POS terminals and more,” Clamagirand explained.

“We will see both cards and mobile phones being used in the market for many years to come,” he said. “NXP will continue to innovate on all fronts, using our involvement in all aspects of the NFC ecosystem to deliver innovations that maximise interoperability, convenience and security.”

The company’s new P71D321 chip, for example, is the first to break the 200ms barrier for Mastercard M/Chip open loop payments, enabling faster transaction times at the retail point of sale and, crucially, fully meeting the speed requirements of major public transportation operators.

A new local face registration and recognition system showcased NXP’s i.MX edge compute capability. The demonstration increases security at the point of sale by tying the cardholder not just to their physical card but also to a stored template of their facial features.

And a new version of NXP’s secure access module, the Mifare SAM AV3, supports contactless transactions and NXP’s NTAG DNA and Icode DNA as well as longer-range Ucode DNA products.

A new secure processing module for biometric payment cards will combine a standard third-party fingerprint sensor with an NXP secure element, NFC energy harvesting technology and authentication software developed in-house by NXP to deliver a batteryless match-on-secure element solution that supports both contact and contactless cards, enables fingerprint verification to be performed in under one second — and can be manufactured using standard hot lamination processes.

This, Clamagirand explained, will make it possible for biometric cards to be produced in large volumes at a price “similar to the cost of metal cards today”.

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