France-based technology company Thales has partnered with fintech Handsome to develop a payment solution that protects visually impaired people from fraud. With this partnership, the company aims to bring autonomy and convenience to visually impaired people by having created a solution that helps protect against fraud or mistakes made at shops.

The Thales Gemalto Voice Payment Card will help blind and visually impaired people to carry out their daily payments without experiencing difficulties, as the card vocalises the amount of each transaction before being validated. In today’s world, a wide majority of banking services is not adapted for people with disabilities, with 90% of visually impaired people having faced fraud or encountered mistakes at a point of sale once in their lifetime, as per information included in the company’s press release. Having this knowledge as its basis, Thales was prompted to develop a solution that provides both trust and autonomy when it comes to payment experiences to people with impaired vision, the solution vocalising each step of the transaction being now certified by Visa and Mastercard.

The Voice Payment Card capabilities To benefit from the Voice Payment Card, users need to install an app on their mobile phone, which is uniquely associated with their card. Each time a payment is made, the mobile app vocalises the amount of the transaction before enabling users to validate it with a secret code. The card works as a connected device, getting the amount from the point-of-sale terminal and communicating it to the mobile app through means of Bluetooth.

A description of each step that includes the amount, PIN validation, remaining attempts should the PIN be incorrect, and confirmation that the transaction is OK is encrypted and sent by the card to the phone enabling the cardholder to hear the details and pay in full reassurance. The customer can hear the information either via speaker phone or earphones and does not require any additional accessories. The solution is compatible with all existing EMV payment terminals with no software or hardware update needed and is expected to soon be commercialised by several banks.

Speaking on the announcement, Thales officials stated in their press release that that company believes innovation to have the potential for solving a multitude of issues. Following this belief, the enterprise decided to tackle the concerns that blind and visually impaired people face by leveraging Handsome’s support and its own expertise when it comes to developing secure and convenient payment solutions. With the solution proven to be useful in relation to other disabilities, the company is looking forward to seeing their offering contribute to building payment solutions that are increasingly sustainable and responsible.

A technology company, Thales invests in digital and ‘deep tech’ innovations such as connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum technologies. The Group offers its customer base of businesses, organisations, and governments in domains of the likes of defence, aeronautics, space, transport, and digital identity and security, solutions, services, and products that aim to help them fulfil their role. .