Say Goodbye to OTPs: Meet Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate
October 2, 2026
Visa and Keyno turn the physical Visa card into a tap-based identity credential, so cardholders can approve sensitive actions and activate new cards with a single tap.
Your Card, Your Security. Tap: A Safer Way to Verify Identity
Every bank knows the moment. A customer wants to change a password, raise a transfer limit or update a mailing address, and the app asks them to wait for a one-time passcode. Sometimes it arrives. Sometimes it lands on an old number, or never comes at all, and the customer ends up calling the contact center.
That friction is costly for everyone. As Mike Romero, Head of Digital Solutions for Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, put it: “Identity verification has become one of the defining challenges of digital commerce — and one of the biggest points of friction for consumers and issuers alike.”
With Visa’s new Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate, built on Keyno technology, there is a simpler answer. It is already in the cardholder’s wallet.
Tap to Confirm: approve high-risk actions in seconds
Tap to Confirm lets cardholders prove they hold their card by tapping it on their phone, right inside the bank’s mobile app. No code to copy, no call to make. Typical uses include:
- Password changes — confirm it is really the cardholder before credentials change
- Account-limit changes — step up security when spending or transfer limits go up
- Mailing-address updates — stop account-takeover attempts that redirect new cards
- High-value transfers — add strong, card-based confirmation where the risk is highest
For the cardholder it feels as natural as paying at a terminal. For the issuer, each tap carries EMV-grade cryptographic proof that the genuine card is present.
Tap to Activate: from envelope to live card in one tap
New-card activation is one of the most common reasons customers contact their bank. Activation codes get lost, phone lines get busy, and an inactive card is a card that is not being used.
Tap to Activate removes those steps. The cardholder opens the issuer’s app, taps the new card on the phone, and the card is live. No support call, no activation code.
What it means for issuers
- Faster digital onboarding and card activation, so new cards start transacting sooner
- Lower contact-center costs, as fewer customers need to call for activation or verification
- Stronger fraud protection, with every tap validated through EMV cryptograms
- Less friction for password changes, address updates and high-value transfers
Already live
Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate are the first commercial deployment of these use cases for issuing banks. They are live today with Fidelity Bank (Bahamas) Limited in its FIDSECURE mobile app, with broader expansion planned throughout 2026.
“Identity is the key to safe commerce,” said Robert J Steinman, CEO of Keyno. “Now, your Visa card is the key to secure online identity verification.”
Want to bring Tap to Confirm and Tap to Activate to your cardholders? Contact us at info@keyno.io.
