Using technology from UK-based biometric startup Sthaler, hundreds of Worldpay employees are trying out a new way to pay - with a scan of their finger.
Worldpay staff taking part in the three-week proof-of-concept have registered their finger vein template to their Visa payment card using Sthaler's ‘Fingopay’ system.
When paying for an item in the staff restaurant, authentication will occur via the use of a FVT reader referenced against tokenised biometric data at the point of sale - with no card required.
The aim is to test the feasibility and value of Sthaler’s Fingopay in a high volume transaction retail environment. The technology is an extension of Hitachi's VeinID, for which Sthaler owns a renewable 10-year license.
Mike Philpotts, innovation partner - authentication, Visa Europe Collab, says: “By testing this technology in a controlled environment, we hope to better understand the practicality, usability and ultimately, the commercial potential for its implementation.”
A recent report by research firm TrendForce forecasts that the market value of biometric identification for financial services applications will increase from US$123 million in 2015 to US$657 million in 2019, driven largely by widespread adoption of vein recognition technology.