As part of its plans to roll out biometric payment solutions, Mastercard will soon enable users pay with a smile or a wave at checkout counters.
Mastercard will soon let users pay with a smile or a wave at checkout counters as part of ways to roll out biometric payment solutions. Biometrics are becoming increasingly commonplace around the world, including for payments at shopping malls, train stations, and grocery stores. They are also becoming common at entry-points in stadiums, theaters, galleries, among other places. While it might still take a few more years before they become the default standard everywhere, companies big and small can no longer ignore this technology.
Along with Visa, Mastercard is one of the leading payments processors in the U.S. and around the world. Based out of Missouri, the company operates in dozens of countries, including the Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, and elsewhere. Founded in 1966 as the Interbank Card Association, the company changed its name to Master Charge in 1969 before settling on Mastercard in 1979. Since then, the company has moved from strength to strength and is now one of the leading names in the industry.
Mastercard on Tuesday announced plans to come out with a new Biometric Checkout Program that will help establish standards for banks, merchants and technology providers to deal with payments using biometrics. As part of the plan, merchants that participate in the program will be able to receive biometric payments from customers. From the consumer side, they will have to enroll with the biometric payments program to get started. Once they have signed up, buyers will be able to simply check the bill and smile into a camera at the checkout counter or wave their hand over a scanner in order to initiate their payment.
What are Benefits Of The New Technology?
Mastercard also claimed that the new technology will benefit both the customer and the merchant in more forms than one. First, the contact-less biometric payments process would be more hygienic than the traditional card or cash-based payments. It will also reduce checkout queues by substantially reducing transaction times. The method will also offer more security, the company claimed. The new biometric-based payments system can also be integrated with loyalty programs and be used to offer personalized recommendations to enable people find products based on their previous purchases.
Mastercard says it is working with a number of partners to ensure the success of the new technology, including NEC, Fujitsu, Aurus, PaybyFace and PopID. The first pilot will be launched this week in Brazil with local start-up Payface. As part of the plan, the company says it will make the technology available at five St Marche supermarkets in São Paulo, where customers will be able to pay by enrolling their face and payment information on the Payface app and then initiate the payment without a card or a mobile device. According to Mastercard, the technology will eventually roll out at various locations across the Middle East and Asia before being rolled out to the rest of the world.