Since the first promise to pay was made, knowing who you’re dealing with has been a requirement. Authenticating the identity of a trading partner - a customer, an accountholder, a business or even a computer - is a burden that falls on the one extending trust because the giver takes on the transaction risk. In online and mobile transactions, the job of authentication has fallen on the password’s sagging shoulders in combination with other credentials such as a payment card or drivers license.

The smartphone has brought, to this world of stolen passwords, social security numbers, and other bits of personal information, the fingerprint and other biometric techniques. Authentication and convenience are no longer at odds. While Apple’s TouchID is at the heart of Apple Pay, the Android side is made up of a broad assembly of technology providers and users called the Fast Identity Online Alliance or FIDO Alliance. Take a listen to this discussion between FIDO board member Philip Andreae and Glenbrook’s George Peabody on how FIDO works and the growing role of biometrics in authentication.