The Mastercard Payment Passkey Service debuts in Latin America with Sympla and Yuno
Mastercard has partnered with Sympla, the leading events platform in Brazil, and Yuno, a global payments orchestrator based in Latin America, to bring its Payment Passkey Service to the region and accelerate secure online checkout for shoppers.
Beginning in January, Sympla and Yuno will be the first partners in the region to offer this
innovative solution to their customers, followed by a wider roll out.
The Mastercard Payment Passkey Service streamlines e-commerce and revolutionizes the
consumer journey. Using device-based biometrics, such as fingerprints or facial scans, payment
passkeys replace other authentication methods like one-time passwords (OTPs) to make online
transactions not only faster and more convenient, but also more secure against fraud and
scams.
Mastercard’s research shows that 90% of consumers worldwide believe biometrics are more
secure and convenient than passwords. In Latin America specifically, a survey conducted from
2023 revealed that 85% of respondents prefer using biometric authentication over traditional
passwords for online transactions. Compared to OTPs, which are increasingly vulnerable to
online scams such as phishing, SIM swapping, and message interception, payment passkeys
make transactions not only faster, but also more secure against fraud and scams.
The Mastercard Payment Passkey Service leverages Mastercard’s tokenization technology,
which replaces the primacy account number (PAN) with a token, to ensure that no card data is
shared with third parties and is useless to fraudsters and scammers in the case of a data
breach.
With payment passkeys, shoppers can choose their Mastercard card when checking out with
Click to Pay, or select a card already stored securely on file with a merchant. To confirm the
payment, they can use biometric authentication like fingerprint or facial scan features already
available on their devices. Upon successful authentication, the transaction is completed.
For e-commerce players, this means fewer abandoned carts and a lower risk of fraud, while
consumers can benefit from faster checkouts and peace of mind. For issuers, this is an
alternative to have their cardholders authenticated, reducing fraud risk. According to a recent
report, retail ecommerce sales in Latin America are on track to reach nearly $180 billion this
year.
“Mastercard is committed to building a payment experience where convenience and security
coexist and partnering with Sympla and Yuno marks a significant step towards advancing Latin America Ecommerce Forecast 2024 payment authentication in the region”, said Silvana Hernandez, executive vice president, Core Products, Mastercard Latin America and the Caribbean.
“Sympla’s mission is to make our customers’ journey on our platform simpler, faster, and safer.
The Mastercard Payment Passkey Service strengthens our commitment to security, reinforcing
Sympla’s position as the most trusted and innovative platform in the Brazilian market”, said
Marina Teixeira, Group Product Manager.
“Passkeys align perfectly with Yuno’s strategy of adopting and scaling innovations quickly, and
being the first orchestrator to implement them with Mastercard demonstrates our commitment to
leading the market. By making authentication easier and reducing friction at checkout, Passkeys
drive higher conversion rates, happier customers, and a better payment experience for
everyone”, added Juan Pablo Ortega, Co-founder and CEO at Yuno.