Online checkout may soon let you confirm a card payment with your fingerprint

Two payment companies, Adyen and Checkout.com, are adding passkeys to online checkout. A passkey lets you confirm a card purchase with the fingerprint, face scan or PIN you already use to unlock your device. It can replace a text code or a trip to your bank's app.

What changed

Even with a saved card, a bank may still want proof that it's you. Payment processors, the companies that pass the order from the store to your card issuer, are now adding passkeys to that step. Adyen is introducing Visa Payment Passkey through its Authenticate product, starting in the U.K. Checkout.com is offering it to selected merchants in the U.K. and Europe.

How it works

When you tap Pay, the processor checks which ways of verifying you are available. If it picks a passkey, your device asks for your fingerprint, face scan or PIN. The secret key used to prove it's you stays on your device. Then the payment goes on, and your bank decides whether to approve it.

In Adyen's pilot, you first complete a normal bank check and are then offered a passkey. On a later order with the same card and device, the system decides whether a check is needed and which kind. If a passkey can't be used, the usual bank prompt still appears. Automatic subscription charges are not covered.

Why shops care

The timing fits how people shop. PYMNTS Intelligence found that 80% of shoppers use stored payment details. In separate research, 84% said one-click checkout matters when choosing where to shop. Also, 62% of merchants showed high interest in biometric checks. A passkey targets the next interruption after the card is saved: the bank's verification screen.

What shop owners can do

A retailer comparing processors can ask for three numbers:

• How often shoppers must answer a verification prompt at all
• How often those shoppers are offered a passkey
• How often they finish the purchase, compared with shoppers who get the bank's usual prompt

It is also worth asking what happens on a backup payment route. If that route can't carry the verification result, a shopper may face a second prompt.

What is not known yet

The reporting gives no launch dates beyond the U.K. and Europe and does not mention the U.S. It also shares no results on how many more purchases passkeys help finish.