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St. Marche shoppers sign up using a Payface mobile app,
Insider’sreport registering their faces. Then they simply smile at checkout
on payments where a photo is snapped and the transaction gets
completed without the need for a card or smartphone.

"The way we pay needs to keep pace with the way we live,
work and do business, offering choice to consumers with
In-store payments the highest levels of security," Ajay Bhalla, president, cyber
and intelligence at Mastercard, said in a press release.
"We've been developing Payface since 2018, with a mission
get personal to help transform the way people pay—improving the
experience without compromising security," said Eladio

By Patti Murphy Isoppo, Payface CEO.
Consumers say it's more secure
ProScribes Inc.
Research from French technology firm IDEMIA suggests
he COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a lot of nearly three in four (74 percent) consumers globally have
changes. Chief among these is a desire to mini- positive attitudes toward biometric technology. Forty-six
mize physical contact, especially when shop- percent of consumers surveyed by GetApp said biometric
T ping. This has led to a dramatic rise in payments technology has made the pandemic easier to deal with.
using contactless cards or mobile apps like Apple Pay.
Mastercard said its research indicates that 60 percent of
Mastercard reported that half of all Mastercard in-person consumers, globally, feel safer using biometrics to verify a
global switched transactions in the fourth quarter of 2021 payment versus using a PIN. Its research also revealed 93
were contactless. It expects contactless payments, globally, percent of consumers, globally, are considering using an
to reach $6.7 trillion in 2026. While contactless cards and emerging payment method in 2022. Biometric payments fit
smartphone apps will drive much of this growth, this is that bill.
not the end game.
A Visa program called Visa Ready for Biometrics relies on
Biometrics adds a much higher level of security to contactless consumers enrolling their fingerprints, which are securely
payments. After all, anyone can steal a contactless-enabled stored in their cards and used for verification at checkout.
card to ring-up fraudulent purchases; they can't steal your Mastercard offers a similar capability.
fingerprint or iris.
Amazon appears to have been the first to test biometrics at
Many of us are already using biometric identification at checkout when it began deploying it at Amazon Go stores
airports and stadiums and for accessing mobile devices; in 2020. Last year it started installing Amazon One palm
retail is a logical next step. In fact, a survey of consumers scanning technology at its Whole Foods stores, and more
earlier this year by GetApp found 49 percent were recently the technology has been rolled out to non-Amazon
comfortable using facial recognition for retail purchases. locales, including sporting and music venues.
That's up from 27 percent of those surveyed in 2020, pre-
pandemic. Amazon One uses computer vision technology to record
Biometric checkout in the works a consumer's unique palm signature, which the consumer
links to a credit or debit card. Then, at the POS, they hold
Card brands Visa and Mastercard have been working on their palm over a device that's about the size of a card
biometric checkout functionality. In May 2022, Mastercard reader. The device evaluates multiple aspects of a person's
began piloting what it describes as "a first-of-its-kind palm for comparison, and if it matches the details on file
technology framework" for biometric payments, dubbed payment is authorized.
Biometric Checkout. Facial recognition is the first biometric
test out of the gate. Hand geometry biometrics and/or Obviously, biometric payments raise questions around
fingerprints will follow. privacy and data collection. Mastercard, for its part, said in
announcing Biometric Checkout that it has created a set of
The New York-based card company said it is working with encryption and other standards banks that merchants and
a half dozen technology partners to advance biometric technology providers can use to ensure security and data
payments that adhere to minimum standards and privacy when people make payments biometrically.
specifications regarding security, biometric performance
levels and data protection. One of those companies, Patti Murphy is senior editor at The Green Sheet and self-described pay-
the Brazilian startup Payface, is running a pilot with ments maven of the fourth estate. Follow her on Twitter @GS_PayMaven.
Mastercard at a handful of St. Marche supermarkets in Sao
Paulo.
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