BBVA continuing development of facial recognition payment system

Spain-based bank BBVA has announced the launch of a facial recognition payment system using the technology provided by its joint venture startup Veridas for its trial with restaurants at its corporate headquarters.

The trial, launched earlier this year, enabled BBVA employees to order ahead and pay for restaurant service using its “Selfie & Go” app. The app lets customers avoid standing in lineups, and provide consent for retailers to offer promotions. The current version of the app only works with pre-set meals and drinks, but the bank plans for the system to be able to scan the customer’s tray to detect items, and it is also developing solutions to allow retailers to integrate RFID tags with the system to identify items selected by the customer.

“The new payment system is part of BBVA’s determination to lead the development of frictionless payments in order to transform customers’ purchase experience in stores,” according to the announcement. “This new trend allows the payment part of the purchase process to ‘disappear’ or to be made practically non-existent for the user.”

“It’s a fantastic solution that has customer experience at its very core,” said BBVA Global Payments project head Guillermo Sanchez. “It’s fast, secure, and will fundamentally change the ways people pay for good and services – literally taking things at face value.”

While retail payments with facial recognition have yet to take off, Wirecard launched an IoT shelf to address the potential market earlier this year, and startup RetailDeep is running pilots of its biometric retail automation systems.

Article Topics

biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  Veridas