Because life is moving fast, technology-driven and connected in many ways, it is important that paying is speedy, safe and convenient. In the past ten years, contactless payment has greatly changed how people shop, use banks and access online services. We started with tap-and-go cards and mobile wallets, but now biometric payment, including facial recognition and pay by face, is becoming more common.
This post looks at the rise of contactless payment, explains its main benefits and details how biometric authentication makes it safer and easier to manage our finances.
What do we mean by Contactless Payment?
Contactless payments happen when you don’t have to touch the payment device or the terminal. Near-Field Communication (NFC) has traditionally been used to complete these transactions with a debit or credit card, a smartphone or a wearable device. To finish a purchase, all users have to do is tap their device or card at the POS reader.
Because of COVID-19, people turned to contactless technology to lessen the number of surfaces they touched while in public. After the pandemic, people kept using these solutions because they are both easy and safe.
The Trend of Biometric Payment
The next step in payment without a card is biometric payment. Now, people can skip cards or phones and use their fingerprints, irises or faces to complete a payment.
What does Biometric Authentication refer to?
Biometric authentication uses someone’s body features to make sure they are who they claim to be. We can already find biometric technology in opening smartphones, using at airports and in building security. Financial transactions are now mostly done using cryptocurrency due to its safety and smoothness.
Biometrics help businesses eliminate the risks linked to passwords, PINs or cards that have been stolen. Each payer is authenticated immediately, so unauthorized transactions are less likely to take place.
Is Pay by Face the New Way to Do Things?
An interesting development in biometric payments is pay by face, where a quick glance at the camera can finish a transaction. With facial recognition, the system matches the face to previously stored payment details and finishes the payment transaction in seconds.
Face payment is already being widely used in cafes, malls and vending machines in Asia, with China and South Korea leading the way. Alipay and WeChat Pay were among the first and now Western markets are starting to use similar methods.
How Does Paying With Your Face Work?
The process for making face payments usually looks something like this:
Registration: The user takes a picture of themselves and links it to a payment source (such as their bank account or digital wallet).
At the time of purchase, a camera looks at the user’s face.
Authentication: Data from the person’s face is checked against records saved in the system.
If the account numbers match, the transaction is given approval — you don’t need to use your phone or enter your PIN.
What Makes Biometric Contactless Payment Valuable
Biometric authentication in contactless payment systems provides benefits for both those using the payments and the ones receiving them.
1. Enhanced Security
It is much harder to duplicate or steal someone’s biometric data than it is to steal a card or a password. Checking a person’s face or fingerprint increases security and cuts down on fraud and returns of payments.
2. Faster Transactions
With biometric authentication, customers get through the checkout process fast and receive better customer support.
3. Touch-Free Experience
After the pandemic, people are paying more attention to hygiene when they shop. Systems like Face Pay make it so you don’t need to touch anything, reducing the chance of picking up germs.
4. Personalization Opportunities
Personalization in shopping can be achieved with the help of biometric data. If a customer is recognized using the POS terminal, the system can say hello by name, remember their preferences and provide discounts for loyalty members.
Problems and Factors
Biometric payment is helpful, yet it also creates problems that must be taken care of:
1. Privacy and the protection of personal data
Many people might refrain from sharing their facial data as they worry about privacy. Providers must comply with GDPR and clearly explain to users how they are handling biometric data.
2. How precise are the results compared to the truth?
Facial recognition technology may not work well for people of various backgrounds and may sometimes be biased. In order for AI to be used more, its training data must improve and any algorithmic bias should be removed.
3. Infrastructure Cost
Adding facial recognition technology to terminals could be expensive for small businesses. Still, as more people use this technology, its costs should go down.
In the future, payments will mostly be made without contact or smart devices
Now that digital transformation is shaping industries, using contactless payment is no longer an extra choice it’s essential. As biometric authentication and facial recognition are introduced, the payments industry is moving toward a world where speed, safety and simplicity all work together.
Many places around the world are already using pay by face, despite its futuristic sound. Those who use this technology early on can improve customer satisfaction, run their operations more efficiently and prevent fraud.
When users are more comfortable with face payment and other biometrics, we can anticipate more places receiving them, like retail, banks, health services and transportation.
All in all, the growth of contactless payment is not limited to doing away with cards. It’s concerned with changing our understanding of identity, privacy and trust on the internet. Biometric payment is already offering that future now.
