“Paying with Your Face” Just Got Easier: Scaling of Biometric Payments Has Begun Across Russia

The National Payment Card System (NPCS) is actively developing a biometric services platform (BSP). It will allow users to pay for goods and services using facial recognition, according to the NPCS press service.

The system has been successfully tested in the Kazan metro and in a number of retail outlets in Moscow. Now, new banks and trade and service enterprises in various regions of the country are connecting to the platform.

The main task of the BSP is to make biometric payment as accessible as bank card payments. Currently, users can select an account for payment through the "SBPey" mobile application using biometric data.

One of the key advantages of the platform is the "multi-consent" mechanism, which allows users to immediately consent to the processing of their biometrics by all banks connected to the BSP. This greatly simplifies the process and promotes the popularization of biometric payments.

NPCS is also working on implementing biometric payment linking to "Mir" cards. Technical documentation for connecting cards was developed at the beginning of the year. In June, bio-acquiring banks will be ready to accept payments, and active testing is currently underway with several participants.

Currently, more than 10 issuing banks are connected to the NPCS platform, including Ak Bars, VTB, Alfa-Bank, and others, as well as three bio-acquiring banks. Several other large Russian banks are in the process of connecting.

Earlier, www1.ru reported that the first Bluetooth payment in Russia has launched on iOS.

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