New restrictions placed on facial recognition payments in Beijing to prevent coronavirus spread

China’s central bank is urging payment services organizations in Beijing to introduce measures to reduce chances for coronavirus infections, including warning customers about health risks that may be associated with using facial recognition for payments, writes China Banking News.

Since the coronavirus outbreak in China, surgical facemasks for coronavirus protection have prevented facial biometrics from working. Businesses are now asked not to encourage people to take off facemasks to make payments in Beijing, however. The expansion of facial recognition payment systems to new merchants has also been temporarily discontinued, as the new guidelines encourage online operations in non-contact service channels.

The People’s Bank of China drafted the “Beijing Municipal Non-bank Payments Institution Work and Production Resumption Disease Prevention Work Guidelines,” which was emitted by the local government in Beijing on February 24.

The guidelines suggest a number of methods to contain the coronavirus epidemic and reduce close contact with bank staff.

Payments organizations are advised to improve mobile app service protection and customers are encouraged to conduct operations through electronic channels. Payment institutions must also deliver daily health reports on their employees.

LG CNS has recently collaborated with SenseTime on a biometric entry service unaffected by masks.

Article Topics

biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  China  |  facial recognition  |  regulation