Worldpay Testing Biometric Payments

U.K.-based payments processor Worldpay is testing out finger vein technology (FVT) in a three-week proof-of-concept trial for use in a high-transaction volume environment.

The trial, which Worldpay said is being conducted by its employees in the company’s cafeteria, is essentially testing “turn[ing] your finger into the ATM” with its FVT-enabled product christened “FingoPay” that is being powered by Visa.

“FingoPay is a cloud-based cardholder identification solution that secures payments that benefit both the merchant and customer,” Visa Europe Collab said. “At the POS, all you need is your finger. Employees taking part in the trial will be able to register their Visa credit or debit card to their finger vein template, which is encrypted and stored securely.”

“When paying for an item in the staff restaurant, authentication will occur via the use of a FVT reader referenced against tokenized biometric data at the POS, with no card required. Finger vein pattern is an advanced biometric factor, which, unlike other physical characteristics, cannot be scanned without the knowledge of the individual and cannot be left for duplication as it is non-latent.”

FingoPay is planned to be released for public use by 2016 in the U.K. and is being developed and tested by biometric solutions company Sthaler, which has collaborated with electronics giant Hitachi to build it out.

The underlying technology is an extension of Hitachi’s VeinID technology that is already being employed by banks at over 80,000 ATMs in Japan and by Barclays in the U.K. for its commercial clients, according to Sthaler’s website.

Worldpay’s test comes at a time when payments companies around the globe are fast gearing up to ride what may be called the next big wave of authentication technology. In fact, with increasing demand for Touch ID sensors for smartphones, the market appetite for it already seems to be indicating towards the huge potential of biometric payments.

Last week, Swedish company Fingerprint Cards said it was experiencing a massive demand for its product after it began outfitting China’s Huawei smartphone with its fingerprint sensors.

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