French banks trial 'one-click button' to avoid passwords

French banks are trialling a one-click authentication button that avoids having to enter a password to login to e-commerce websites.

Called b.connect, it can be recognised by its red teardrop-shaped logo with what looks like a white C with two barbells in the middle. It is free to use.

It is currently being trialled by Crédit Agricole, LCL (a subsidiary of Crédit Agricole), BNP Paribas, BNP Paribas’s online bank Hello-Bank!, and Société Générale.

At its launch in September just four websites – Courir (online shoe shop) , Libération (left-wing newspaper), Micromania (computer games store) and Aladom (employment agency) – were signed up to use it.

“When you sign up with b.connect through your bank, and you choose to pay with a card, you will not need to identify yourself at the moment of payment with a fingerprint or code if you click on the b.connect button,” a spokesman for Crédit Agricole told The Connexion.

“It is designed to be simpler.”

Some websites, such as Amazon, already allow payments without entering a password each time, and the spokesman said that b.connect will allow other sites to do the same, without the risk of not being paid.

Users can sign up to b.connect on their banking app or online banking website by clicking on the banner promoting b.connect and following the instructions. The b.connect website promises an account can be created in less than a minute.

Once the account has been set up, users can click on the b.connect button, whether on a participating website or mobile app, to create a new customer account or to log in to their customer area. 

The security of any card transactions is then handled by the bank without the need for further authentication.

The bank does not keep a record of visits to the website, but does confirm the customer’s name and email address with the site.

Details of when more websites will sign up for b.connect were not forthcoming from the banks.

Confusingly, b.connect was launched before the much-vaunted Wero payment system is due to be expanded to online and mobile shopping payments.

Wero is currently included in most French banking apps and serves as a simple, instant way to settle up or chase payments with family and friends. 

Its website promises that soon customers will also be able to buy in-store and online with their Wero digital wallet, and even pay for subscriptions.

“Wero is still the top priority and the timetable is for it to be expanded from person-to-person to use in shops and on websites in 2026,” a spokeswoman for BNP Paribas told The Connexion.

Crédit Agricole says five million of its customers already use Wero each month for person-to-person payments, and the European Payments Initiative, a group of 16 European banks, says Wero has 43.5million registered users.

The first places Wero can be used to buy goods and services in France were announced in September.

They include Air France, Leclerc supermarkets, ESF (a ski school), Orange, VeePee (online branded goods shop), and Dott (electric scooter rentals).

Europe’s banks are struggling to keep up with foreign, mainly US, payment systems such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Visa and Mastercard.

In France, the Carte Bleue bank card network provides an alternative to Visa and Mastercard, but is only used in this country. Increasingly, websites are not offering CB as a payment option because it is not recognised internationally.

As well as being subject to charges set in the US for payment systems, banks worry they are losing valuable data about their clients to the US through their domination of payments.

Wero, which has been mainly French led, is an attempt to regain lost ground and promises fast, safe transactions across the continent, if it succeeds.