Biometric Future: Why You May Soon Be Paying With Your Face
Numerous companies have begun to support biometric payments, which allow customers to verify their identity via their face, fingerprint, and other physical features to perform transactions. The trend could become increasingly common in the future.
Key takeaways
- Biometric payments allow customers to identify themselves and initiate payments based on their physical features
- This involves scanning one’s face, palm, fingerprint, voice, or iris
- JP Morgan, Amazon, and Apple are all working with biometric payments
- Biometric verification could make payments more convenient for customers and merchants if security concerns are fully addressed
What Are Biometric Payments?
Biometric payments involve verifying and identifying customers based on their physical features — usually by scanning their face, hand, fingerprint, iris, or voice.
The feature can replace or coexist with traditional payment verification features. For instance, it can work alongside two-factor authentication (2FA) or PIN entry for additional security verification.
Biometric payments offer several advantages, such as greater security, faster and more convenient payments, and a reduced need for customers to carry cards and cash.
Payment services that offer biometric verification may be able to do so inexpensively. These services can pass the benefits on to stores and merchants in the form of transaction fees and service fees that are lower than other payment methods.
Safety and Security Concerns of Biometric Technology
Biometric verification is highly secure. Because users must verify themselves with their unique physical features, attackers cannot steal information in the same way they might steal a payment card, PIN, or cash.
Imitation and impersonation are a limited concern with biometrics. Liveness detection, which ensures that a real person is being verified, makes it difficult to trick the system. For example, liveness detection can ensure that someone has scanned their real face rather than a photograph.
However, if biometric service providers fail to securely store customer information, attackers could breach the database and steal personal user data. Since the data in question is potentially biological features such as fingerprints or facial features, many view this as a deeper concern than traditional privacy breaches.
A database breach could expose identifying information and compromise user privacy — a significant problem even if the stolen information does not allow the attacker to perform an unauthorized payment through the biometric payment service itself.
Companies Using Biometrics
Numerous companies are using biometric technology for payments or are preparing to do so.
JPMorgan Chase is planning to introduce face and palm payments at retailers by 2025 in partnership with biometrics software firm PopID.
Payments giant MasterCard similarly worked with PopID and other partners to introduce biometric payments in Brazil in 2022. In 2023, Mastercard said it was working with NEC to extend biometric payment features to the Asia Pacific Region.
Amazon began to introduce palm payments in 2020. In 2023, the company said it would bring the feature to its subsidiary, Whole Foods, in all US locations. It also described adoption at various restaurants, travel retailers, and sports and entertainment venues.
Apple, meanwhile, allows customers to use Face ID to authenticate Apple Pay payments. Unlike other approaches, merchants only need to support Apple Pay, leaving Apple users to choose to verify their payments with or without the biometric feature.
The sector is likely to grow, with one report from Goode Intelligence suggesting that biometric payments could surpass $5.76 trillion in 2026 with more than 3 billion users.
Frequently asked questions
What is a multi-currency account/virtual IBAN?
A Payset multi-currency account allows you to receive money in 34 different currencies and send money in up to 38 currencies, all within the same account.
You can deposit and withdraw funds, convert currencies at competitive exchange rates, and hold your chosen currencies to capitalize on market movements.
A Payset multi-currency account allows startups and business owners to receive payments from clients virtually anywhere in the world and pay suppliers, staff, and contractors quickly and affordably in their chosen currency.
- Funds can be deposited and withdrawn from the account for a small fee.
- Account holders can send and receive money with other Payset users for free.
- Depending on your region, you can use various payment networks from your Payset account, including SWIFT, SEPA, ACH, Fedwire, Faster Payments, BACS, and CHAPS.
- Once you register an account, you will be provided with a Virtual IBAN (International Bank Account Number), which makes all of these transfers easy.
- We provide you with local payments and collections. For example, transactions in USD, EUR, CAD, and GBP are processed through the local payment networks, which is far cheaper and takes minutes as opposed to days
Are there limits on the amount of money I can send and receive?
No, there are no transaction limits on Payset multi-currency accounts.
However, higher-volume transactions may require additional anti-fraud verification. If you plan to make a large transaction, contact us in advance to avoid verification delays.
How is Payset regulated?
Payset is regulated as an authorized Electronic Money Institution by the UK Financial Conduct Authority. Our activities are also regulated by the Payment Services Regulation 2017 and the Electronic Money Regulation 2011 (SI 2011/99).
How do I add money to my account?
How do I send money from my account?
Once you have opened your verified IBAN account and added money to a balance, transferring funds is simple.
Simply log in into your account and add a beneficiary, then simply “make a transfer” in your preferred currency to that beneficiary.
Types of Multi-Currency Accounts
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