Passwords 🔑 have always been a weak link in security.
- In fintech, where data protection is critical, passwordless authentication is becoming the new standard.
No more passwords to remember, and no more security questions asking for your “mother’s maiden name” or the “name of your childhood crush” 👀 - Passwords are a security risk: Stolen and phished credentials remain one of the main ways attackers get in. Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report finds that exploitation of vulnerabilities (31% of breaches) has now overtaken stolen credentials as the most common initial access route, but credential abuse and phishing are still among the leading entry points. In fintech, where sensitive financial data is at stake, relying on passwords alone is a gamble.
- Better user experience: People find passwords inconvenient. With passkeys, users sign in with the same biometric (fingerprint or face) or device PIN they use to unlock their phone or laptop, or with a hardware security key. The FIDO Alliance’s Passkey Index 2026 (15 October 2026, data from 15 major consumer services) found that passkey sign-ins succeeded 93% of the time against 78% for traditional MFA, and were nearly three times faster.
- Stronger security: Passkeys are built on the FIDO2 standards (WebAuthn and CTAP). The private key never leaves the user’s device or password manager and each credential is bound to the genuine website or app, so passkeys resist phishing and credential stuffing in a way that passwords, SMS codes and push approvals do not.
How are fintech companies leading the change?
Passkeys are now supported natively across Apple, Google and Microsoft platforms and the major browsers and password managers, and can be synced across a user’s devices. The FIDO Alliance estimates that 7 billion passkeys are in use worldwide, and its 2026 Passkey Index reports that about 36% of successful sign-ins at participating services now use a passkey, up from about 26% in 2025. Fintech companies are adopting passkeys for customers and device-bound FIDO2 authenticators such as Windows Hello for Business and hardware security keys for staff and privileged users.
The benefits:
- Regulatory compliance: In the EU and UK, PSD2 strong customer authentication (SCA) requires two independent factors from knowledge, possession and inherence; a passkey unlocked by biometric or PIN on the user’s device can be designed to meet this. The EU’s successor package (PSD3 and the Payment Services Regulation) was provisionally agreed on 27 November 2025 and keeps SCA, adds payee name verification and shifts more fraud liability to payment providers; it had not been formally adopted as of October 2026. PCI DSS v4.0.1 has required MFA for all access to the cardholder data environment since 31 March 2025, and NIST SP 800-63B-4 (July 2025) accepts syncable passkeys at AAL2 while requiring device-bound, phishing-resistant authenticators at AAL3.
- Lower operational costs: Fewer password resets mean lower help desk costs, and every Passkey Index participant that shared savings data reported lower SMS one-time-passcode costs.
- Customer trust: Moving to passwordless authentication demonstrates a strong commitment to security, which is critical in building trust with your customers.
For fintech companies, the shift towards passwordless is a win-win, improving security and the user experience.
How Sinevis can help your organisation?
Sinevis can help your organisation evaluate business and regulatory requirements and select a passwordless authentication approach, such as synced passkeys for customers or device-bound FIDO2 security keys for high-risk and privileged users, with a plan for account recovery and phasing out weaker fallbacks such as SMS codes and email magic links. We integrate passwordless authentication into your existing identity and access management (IAM) solution, ensuring compatibility with existing Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
Please contact us.
Sources: FIDO Alliance, Passkey Index 2026, 15 October 2026 (fidoalliance.org); FIDO Alliance, “7 Billion Passkeys and Counting”, 15 October 2026 (fidoalliance.org); Verizon, 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report (verizon.com); NIST SP 800-63B-4, July 2025 (csrc.nist.gov); European Parliament, “Payment services deal”, 27 November 2025 (europarl.europa.eu).