If a growing number of users are asking, “Why pay with a card when I can just use my phone?” then many more may soon ask, “Why pay with my phone when I can pay with my finger?”
To many, this will sound like the stuff of science fiction, but the technology for biometric payments – or “naked payments”, as this approach has increasingly come to be known – is already here. There is no technological obstacle to linking a biometric template with a payment card; rather, the barriers to overcome are technological and infrastructural. But signs of progress are emerging.
In Europe, England-based Fingopay has been laying the groundwork for a naked payments system based on finger vein scanning, with a successful pilot project at the Copenhagen Business School in Denmark paving the way to the establishment of a partnership with Cardstream in late spring; and the company is now aiming for a global rollout of its platform.
Sthaler worked with music festival industry to develop a cashless, card-free payment system that was available to everyone. The company developed Fingopay, using VeinID technology, in partnership with Hitachi. Blue Star Capital PLC (LON:BLU) is an investing company with a focus on new technologies. Blue Star’s investments include a 0.9% holding in Sthaler.