Revolut fintech users will be able to make payments at cafés or shops using facial recognition technology. In an effort to attract more business customers, the company is currently testing the relevant tool in the UK, Bloomberg reports citing a company statement.

Details

Revolut’s pilot payment system will allow customers to pay for purchases in stores, cafes, and other venues by scanning their face. At the checkout, the system will verify the buyer’s face against the biometric data they provided when registering their Revolut account. For merchants, using the service will be free— the company does not plan to charge them a fee for processing payments.

“We’re replacing outdated, fragmented checkouts with a highly efficient payment system that solves problems for both customers and merchants,” commented Alex Kodina, General Manager of the Payments for Business division at Revolut, on the system launch.

The fintech’s first partner in the project was the chain of coffee shops and coffee stores Kiss the Hippo. A full rollout of the system is scheduled for the end of this year.

How will security be ensured

The checkout technology that Revolut has begun implementing has “bank-level protection” and uses end-to-end encryption during authentication, the company said. Sellers will not store customers’ personal data and will not have access to it—it will remain on Revolut’s side. The system is integrated into the fintech’s checkout solution, which includes built-in redundancy in case of failures or outages.

A few weeks ago, Revolut faced a data leak: hackers breached an Italian government email system and, for several months, communicated with representatives of the fintech, posing as employees of Italy’s Ministry of Internal Affairs. The incident led to the disclosure of confidential information for nearly 700 customers, Financial Times found.

Context

The launch of biometric payments fits into a broader strategy by fintech companies, including Revolut, to expand their presence in business banking services. They offer merchants new terminals and equipment that reduce costs associated with accepting cash and cards, Bloomberg reports. Attempts to speed up the payment process at the checkout have been made before as well. For example, Mastercard promoted contactless PayPass technology as early as the early 2000s, but it took years before it became widely adopted. More recently, JPMorgan Chase tested payments using the palm and face, and Amazon rolled out in some of its stores systems that allow customers to bypass cashiers, but later scaled back the project.ㅤ

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