EXCLUSIVE — As hacks and other methods of digital fraud rise with the adoption of mobile payments, companies and consumers continue to search for better ways to authenticate and identity users making payments.

For certain markets, adoption could come more quickly than others, Bob Reany, executive vice president, global products and services, identity solutions for Mastercard, told Bank Innovation.

These markets include Europe and India, Reany said, global areas where consumers might have more concerns over their financial security than those in other markets.

“Generally speaking Europe, and any market that started out historically as a debit market–they built security in much earlier than other markets,” Reany said. “So all of Europe, with things like PSD2: consumers want to do things to help protect themselves, and the banks and government are very security-minded [in that way].”

Mastercard, which developed a biometric credit/debit card for in-store purchases in 2017, is looking to expand the card to these markets as consumers grow more comfortable with these methods. So far, the card is available in markets like South Africa and Bulgaria, and is soon to pilot in other regions, Reany told Bank Innovation.

While Reany could not name any specific countries, India has been experimenting with biometric authentication as an alternative to its cash-heavy economy. As Reany stated, many consumers in the region are using biometrics for “a lot of the day to day transactions…and our banks in India are very progressive and forward-thinking,” he added.

“India is a very attractive market for us, and I can tell you why,” Reany said, though he could not state that Mastercard itself would be expanding its biometric technology in the region. “There’s 1.2 billion people that have already captured their biometrics with the government. So that’s [the most] biometric friendly, consumer ready marketplace, probably in the world.”