Mastercard starts facial recognition trial with retailers

The company said its Biometric Checkout Program would let a shopper scan their face using a retailer’s smartphone app and assign their likeness to a bank card stored on file. The technology is comparable to how Apple Inc.’s iPhone uses FaceID to approve payments or unlock a device. A pilot program began this week inside supermarkets in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Mastercard Inc. has begun to trial a biometric payment system for brick-and-mortar stores, using facial recognition rather than contactless cards, smartphones or memorable PINs.

According to Mastercard Cyber & Intelligence President Ajay Bhalla, when the pandemic happened, the company saw that everybody went digital and consumers all over the world embraced new technologies asking Mastercard for that for shopping, for their retail experiences.

A pilot program began this week inside five St. Marche supermarkets in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Mastercard said in a statement. The stores will use an app that Brazilian startup Payface developed. It’s one of the small businesses Mastercard promotes as part of its Start Path engagement program.

On the hardware side, Mastercard is working with companies including NEC Corp. and Fujitsu General Ltd. It has plans to roll out internationally soon.

Mastercard team are really looking forward to bringing this solution everywhere. The Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Latin America are in the nearest plans with even more features. Age verification for purchasing restricted store items is one that the company is beginning to explore and that they are really excited about.

Facial recognition is just one of many technologies that retailers, banks and payments firms use to try to eliminate cash and reduce fraud.

Amazon.com Inc. has a system that uses in-store cameras to track what shoppers put in a basket. It charges them on exiting its physical stores in the United States and United Kingdom. It won interest from Britain’s J Sainsbury Plc., which installed it at a trial store. Starbucks Corp. has a café in New York using it, too.