Now you can pay with your face! Learn more about facial biometrics

In Brazilian commerce, you can walk into a store without a mobile phone, card or ID and pay for a purchase with just a smile. That’s because retailers and digital payment companies are investing in facial biometrics. And, for experts, this technology could revolutionize the payments industry and become as popular as Pix in Brazil.

For those in a hurry:

Paying with your face is a major trend in the area of ​​contactless payments, which is expected to move US$9.8 trillion (R$49 trillion, at current exchange rates) worldwide by 2026. Even though the technology is still in its infancy, the expectation is that its growth will accelerate until the end of the decade – and Brazil should be one of its main fronts.

How facial biometrics work

The use of the face to authenticate financial transactions is already more common than one might think in the country. This method is used to validate purchases with a digital wallet, open accounts in digital and fintech banks, and even to authorize transfers in large bank applications.

C&A, for example, is one of the retailers that already has payment by facial biometrics in stores across the country. To use it, the customer must first download the clothing network’s digital wallet, C&A Pay, and validate their face for payment. After that, you can go to any unit to shop without even picking up your mobile. In addition to capturing the image at checkout, you need to enter your CPF and a password to make your purchase. The value of the products goes directly on the card bill of the shop.

To facilitate the implementation of this type of payment in shops of all sizes, from large retailers to small businesses, Mastercard has launched the Biometric Checkout Program. Through it, customers have the opportunity to register, in stores or at home, and leave their image registered in the database so that they can then go shopping smiling at a camera or waving at a reader.

Tools for paying with your face

Payface, a facial recognition payments startup founded in Florianópolis (SC), is working to develop, by 2025, two tools with the potential to popularize biometric payments in a short time.

The first is a sort of totem, which can be installed in any point of sale, in which the customer registers his face only once and, subsequently, has payments released based on his image.

The idea eliminates the need to download mobile applications, one of the barriers for low-income people. These often don’t have capable devices, with storage space, or are unfamiliar with the technology.

The second tool allows payments via facial biometrics through card machines already present in establishments.

For now, Payface offers payment by facial biometrics at partner establishments upon registration in its application. It is present, for example, in the church of S. Marché, Zona Sud and D’Avó. By the end of the year, the system should reach the pharmacy chains.

The post Now you can pay with your face! Learn about facial biometrics that first appeared on Olhar Digital.

Source: Olhar Digital