Fingopay Successfully Uses Vein Biometrics For Bank-To-Bank Payment

Biometric VeinID platform Fingopay announced that it is launching an Open Banking retail pilot with Reflow, a payments firm. The partnership has allowed the companies to create a bank-to-bank, face-to-face VeinID payment, according to Fingopay, enabling customers to make payments with just the swipe of a finger.

With the program, retailers and merchants will be able to handle bank-to-bank transactions, which will reduce costs and allow settlements within three hours, rather than the usual three-to-five-day delay in payment. The pilot will last one month, and is part of an ongoing partnership between the two companies.

Fingopay is also in the middle of a global launch in Manchester later this year.

Sthaler, the company that created Fingopay, said it wants to demonstrate to the FCA and other financial authorities that its technology is reliable and safe. Fingopay CEO Nick Dryden said the hope was that this type of technology would catch on in the future.

Using Hitachi VeinID technology, Fingopay will allow users to prove their identities and pay for items using only their fingers, foregoing the need for passwords, cards or cash. Harmless infrared light will scan one’s unique finger vein patterns, and verify payment within two seconds, according to Fingopay’s website, utilizing a biometric cloud system.

The technology is different from one using fingerprints, as finger veins leave no trace, so they cannot be copied. For this reason, the company said it’s an ideal technology for avoiding fraud and identity theft.

According to Dryden, the technology aims to roll out in the U.K., Manchester, Europe and North Africa this year.

In similar finger-based news, Amazon is testing a technology that it is dubbing “Orville,” which could allow customers to make purchases by simply waving a hand at a scanner. However, past attempts at this kind of tech have fallen flat, due to issues with functionality and time-consuming registration processes that ended up leaving cards as the best way for many people to shop.