Tencent considers bringing palm biometric payment to Thailand, Alipay pushes the PL1

Chinese tech giant Tencent is considering bringing its palm biometrics scanning to Thailand in what would be a significant expansion of the burgeoning technology.

Tencent Cloud vice president Jimmy Chen, a director in charge of Southeast Asia, said Thailand is a “key strategic market.” Thailand is undergoing its own digital transformation journey and Chen identifies “strong demand” from large corporations and the Thai government’s “Cloud First” policy, as he spoke to the Bangkok Post.

Chen said palm biometric payment technology could be rolled out in retail, financial services, entertainment, the public sector, education and telecom. He singled out convenience stores as one of the most promising models for the technology, and predicted that the tech will mature as a commercial payment system in Indonesia and Thailand since he believes it offers higher scalability, security and reliability.

Tencent Cloud’s current business partners in Thailand include MFEC and True IDC. Tencent’s WeChat Pay (along with Alibaba’s Alipay) are both widely available in Thailand.

Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, is also pushing palm biometric payments with its Alipay PL1 product. Users must register their palm and vein biometrics with Alipay and connect them with their payment account to use the PL1 device. At shops using the PL1 device, customers then simply hold their palm over the sensor to verify and approve transactions. The whole process should take only a few seconds, according to the company.

The PL1 uses both palm print scanning (the lines you see on people’s palms) and palm vein patterns (the veins under the skin). These biometrics are unique to individuals and are even more unique and harder to replicate than fingerprints, making palm biometrics particularly secure. It is also convenient as it’s contactless.

Once businesses install the PL1, which are dedicated scanners, people can use their palms to transact in shops, metro turnstiles or buses, while the PL1 can also be used as entrance scanners for buildings.

Palm biometric scanning is an increasingly popular option for making in-person payments. Major players such as Tencent, Visa, Amazon, J.P. Morgan and Mastercard are increasingly backing palm-based payment systems. Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach said in a recent podcast with Fortune that the future of payment, with palm payments or other biometric payment options, is in the hands of consumers. This is particularly true of physical shopping, in contrast with online shopping, as consumers are still used to tapping a piece of plastic or their phone. But the availability of options is important.

Amazon has fully deployed its palm-scanning technology Amazon One across all its Whole Foods stores in the U.S., and Tencent launched its Palm Pay system for WeChat across convenience stores and various retail outlets in China.

J.P. Morgan is planning a broad roll-out of palm-based payment technology this year, and Mastercard has integrated palm biometrics into its biometric checkout program. Jean-Marc Thienpont, global head of omnichannel and biometrics for J.P. Morgan Payments, has referred to palm-based biometrics as a “crucial component” for the company’s overall biometrics strategy.

Article Topics

Alipay  |  Asia  |  biometric payments  |  biometrics  |  contactless biometrics  |  palm biometrics  |  palm vein authentication  |  Tencent