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Mastercard (MA) Eases Checkouts in Asia Pacific With Biometrics
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Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) recently teamed up with Japan-based NEC Corporation to unveil the Mastercard Biometric Checkout Program across the Asia Pacific region. MA launched the program with a pilot in Brazil last year and concurrently, remained optimistic about expanding the program’s reach to Asia in the days ahead. Therefore, the recent partnership bears the fruits of the tech giant’s plan. And NEC remained one of the first enrollees of the program.
The payment enablement and enhanced user experience of Mastercard as well as NEC’s innovative face recognition and liveness verification technology will be leveraged to enable consumers in the Asia Pacific countries to conduct biometric payments for in-store checkouts. By merely smiling into a camera or waving a hand over a reader, consumers can enjoy a seamless, safe and quicker checkout experience without the need for phone unlocks or the PIN number.
Apart from being of great use to consumers, the Biometric Checkout Program benefits merchants in numerous ways. Shorter queues, higher security in payments, improved hygiene as biometric payments are contactless in nature, stronger relationships with customers and a growing sales figure remain some of the benefits.
Mastercard remains steadfast to launch a diverse range of flexible payment solutions and its recent partnership with NEC bears testament to the same. While it has taken the help of NEC to launch the Biometric Checkout Program across the Asia Pacific, other partners like Payface, Aurus, PaybyFace, PopID and Fujitsu Limited have extended a helping hand to the tech giant in expanding the reach of the program across several parts of the globe in future.
Partnerships similar to the latest one reflect Mastercard’s sincere efforts to solidify its digital capabilities, which are a dire need to bolster one’s customer base as people nowadays are considerably inclined toward digital payments. And biometrics seem to be a favorite choice for Asia Pacific consumers. According to an MA survey, 82% of consumers across the Asia Pacific already use a minimum of one form of biometrics. The global market for biometric technology is anticipated to witness a 13.6% CAGR over the 2023-2032 period, per Precedence Research.
While digitization does provide ease and affordability, the trend to go digital can often invite cybercrimes and result in substantial losses on the part of both merchants and consumers. Therefore, the Biometric Checkout Program seems to be a perfect fit to capitalize on the expanding contactless payments market as it takes care of the security, biometric performance, data protection and privacy requirements of financial institutions, merchants and technology providers.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 16.3% in the past year compared with the industry’s 13% growth. MA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The bottom line of FirstCash outpaced estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 7.86%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCFS’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 13.1% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 15.8% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for FCFS’s 2023 earnings has moved 5.2% north in the past 30 days.
Brink’s earnings outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 3.63%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BCO’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 13.7% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 7.5% from the prior-year reading. BCO boasts an impressive Value Score of A.
The bottom line of Instructure outpaced estimates in two of the last four quarters, matched the mark once and missed the same in the remaining one occasion, the average surprise being 1.87%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for INST’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 10.4% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 11.4% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for INST’s 2023 earnings has moved 7.6% north over the past 30 days.
Shares of FirstCash, Brink’s and Instructure have gained 25.1%, 28.3% and 7.6%, respectively, in the past year.
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Mastercard (MA) Eases Checkouts in Asia Pacific With Biometrics
Mastercard Incorporated (MA - Free Report) recently teamed up with Japan-based NEC Corporation to unveil the Mastercard Biometric Checkout Program across the Asia Pacific region. MA launched the program with a pilot in Brazil last year and concurrently, remained optimistic about expanding the program’s reach to Asia in the days ahead. Therefore, the recent partnership bears the fruits of the tech giant’s plan. And NEC remained one of the first enrollees of the program.
The payment enablement and enhanced user experience of Mastercard as well as NEC’s innovative face recognition and liveness verification technology will be leveraged to enable consumers in the Asia Pacific countries to conduct biometric payments for in-store checkouts. By merely smiling into a camera or waving a hand over a reader, consumers can enjoy a seamless, safe and quicker checkout experience without the need for phone unlocks or the PIN number.
Apart from being of great use to consumers, the Biometric Checkout Program benefits merchants in numerous ways. Shorter queues, higher security in payments, improved hygiene as biometric payments are contactless in nature, stronger relationships with customers and a growing sales figure remain some of the benefits.
Mastercard remains steadfast to launch a diverse range of flexible payment solutions and its recent partnership with NEC bears testament to the same. While it has taken the help of NEC to launch the Biometric Checkout Program across the Asia Pacific, other partners like Payface, Aurus, PaybyFace, PopID and Fujitsu Limited have extended a helping hand to the tech giant in expanding the reach of the program across several parts of the globe in future.
Partnerships similar to the latest one reflect Mastercard’s sincere efforts to solidify its digital capabilities, which are a dire need to bolster one’s customer base as people nowadays are considerably inclined toward digital payments. And biometrics seem to be a favorite choice for Asia Pacific consumers. According to an MA survey, 82% of consumers across the Asia Pacific already use a minimum of one form of biometrics. The global market for biometric technology is anticipated to witness a 13.6% CAGR over the 2023-2032 period, per Precedence Research.
While digitization does provide ease and affordability, the trend to go digital can often invite cybercrimes and result in substantial losses on the part of both merchants and consumers. Therefore, the Biometric Checkout Program seems to be a perfect fit to capitalize on the expanding contactless payments market as it takes care of the security, biometric performance, data protection and privacy requirements of financial institutions, merchants and technology providers.
Shares of Mastercard have gained 16.3% in the past year compared with the industry’s 13% growth. MA currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
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Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the Business Services space are FirstCash Holdings, Inc. (FCFS - Free Report) , The Brink's Company (BCO - Free Report) and Instructure Holdings, Inc. (INST - Free Report) . While FirstCash sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Brink’s and Instructure carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The bottom line of FirstCash outpaced estimates in each of the last four quarters, the average surprise being 7.86%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCFS’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 13.1% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 15.8% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for FCFS’s 2023 earnings has moved 5.2% north in the past 30 days.
Brink’s earnings outpaced estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the mark once, the average surprise being 3.63%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BCO’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 13.7% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 7.5% from the prior-year reading. BCO boasts an impressive Value Score of A.
The bottom line of Instructure outpaced estimates in two of the last four quarters, matched the mark once and missed the same in the remaining one occasion, the average surprise being 1.87%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for INST’s 2023 earnings suggests an improvement of 10.4% from the year-ago reported figure. The same for revenues suggests growth of 11.4% from the year-ago reported number. The consensus mark for INST’s 2023 earnings has moved 7.6% north over the past 30 days.
Shares of FirstCash, Brink’s and Instructure have gained 25.1%, 28.3% and 7.6%, respectively, in the past year.