Make Purchases With a Smile: MasterCard’s Smile to Pay System
MasterCard recently launched its new payment system that lets shoppers complete their payment transactions with the wave of a hand or a mere smile. This facial recognition payment technology aims to reduce lines in physical shops, heighten security, and cut transaction times short. Until this payment feature is available, there are other payment options you can offer your customers. Get ahead of the curve and work with high-risk merchant account providers to help you find the most appropriate solution for your business.
Currently, the new payment feature, dubbed Smile to Pay, has started its trial period in Brazil, followed soon by Asia and the Middle East, and is set to roll out later this year according to MasterCard.
MasterCard’s program aims to provide a seamless approach for consumers while the company attempts to penetrate the contactless biometrics technology market.
Although this new scheme has raised data and security concerns like Amazon’s palm reading technology, MasterCard pointed out that 74% of worldwide consumers show a positive attitude toward biometric technology.
MasterCard recognizes the concerns raised regarding data storage, crime risks, and customer privacy raised, so the company is giving customers the choice as to whether or not they will use the payment feature. It’s up to the retailers, however, to decide if they will offer the biometric system.
How Does Smile to Pay Work?
The biometric system “provides customers facial recognition-based payments by linking the biometric authentication systems of a number of third-party companies with Mastercard’s own payment systems.”
According to MasterCard, they have already partnered with NEC, PayByFace, PayFace, PopID, Fujitsu Limited, and Aurus for the fulfillment of the program.
Initially, the company’s spokesperson said that “providers will need to go through an independent laboratory certification against program criteria to be considered.” However, the criteria are soon to be publicly available.
Meanwhile, customers will have to install an app on their photos and provide payment information. These details will then be saved and stored on the third-party provider’s server. At checkout, the customer’s data will be compared to the stored data for verification. Once successfully verified, the amount will be automatically deducted.
Basically, the technology is similar to the authentication technologies used on smart devices like Face ID as well as airports such as SmartGates, the technology used in Australian airports to automatically process passengers.
Who Will Have Access to Biometric Data
MasterCard and partner biometrics service providers will decide who can access the data and how they will use the stored data.
With the privacy protection concern, MasterCard further added that customer data would be stored in encrypted form. Also, the data will be removed when the customer expresses the need to discontinue their enrollment.
The bottom line, customers who want to have access to a convenient and quick checkout process will have to consent to all the data privacy terms and conditions.
How Accurate Is The Smile to Pay Technology?
As of today, MasterCard has not revealed how accurate the Smile to Pay payment technology is. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the best top facial recognition algorithm has a 0.08% chance of error. But until now, MasterCard has not disclosed how accurate this payment technology is.