Vein Tech Payments Come To London

In the United Kingdom, the movement toward digital payments — and advanced digital payments at that — is getting a push, as a few high-profile names are about to test technology that uses finger scanning to enable transactions.

The Telegraph reported that FingoPay, a service developed by U.K. startup Sthaler, utilizes a biometric reader to scan veins located within a user’s finger, which means a measure of security is in place due to the individual nature of that physical makeup. The startup is due to commence testing of the technology in September, with a debut looming at Proud, a London nightclub. Hitachi is developing the reader that will read the users’ fingers.

That unique imprint, so to speak, would be used in tandem with either credit cards or bank accounts in a process that would let shoppers pay with the simple act of inserting a finger in a piece of scanning hardware, making plastic, ostensibly, obsolete. Sthaler management told The Telegraph that there is an experimental pilot in place, with placement at McDonald’s and also Co-op food stores. Sthaler is being backed by Collab, the innovation arm of Visa Europe. Sthaler has said the chance of similar vein structures in users’ fingers is 3.4 billion-to-one, which means security is virtually guaranteed. The technology, as powered by Hitachi, is already being used by Barclays.

The impending push for finger-based biometrics means that FingoPay would be following on the heels of, say, Apple Pay, which uses fingerprint identification technology, and Android’s own launch of competing technology just three months ago.