What are biometric payments?

It is becoming easier and easier to make a payment, as technology continues to facilitate this task with increasingly innovative methods. In this field, the use of biometric paymentsis one of the most outstanding.

One of the most common ways of verifying a person’s identity is through his or her fingerprint, a method that has been used for years in the identity documents of each person, and which, being a unique pattern, can be used to make payments.

Do you know what biometric payments are?

In a very simplified form, biometrics is a technological innovation incorporated into payment methods that uses the validation of unique characteristics of each person to recognize the customer and approve the deduction of a payment from his or her bank account.

The most common biometric payment method is the one that uses fingerprint scanning. Sometimes the biometric method replaces cards where the customer enters a PIN or uses the magnetic stripe, as is the case with traditional methods.

However, this is not the only form of biometrics being used in the payments world. Other alternatives such as face detection are also on the rise thanks to advances in artificial intelligence.

With the biometric system, the risk of being a victim of data theft is much lower. This is because it is very complicated to recreate the users’ face or fingerprints. In this sense, customers are more secure when paying and the process would be carried out much faster.

This reality makes it more evident that banks and other means of payment will generally replace cards and passwords with devices that read fingerprints or recognize users’ faces.

What biometric data can these payment systems use?

A biometric identifier is one that is connected to your human qualities and are divided into two classes: physical or behavioral. Physical identifiers are generally unalterable and thus make use of the following characteristics:

Fingerprints

Each fingerprint has a unique pattern, so they are considered unrepeatable biometric information. Today they are the most well-known type of verification, as they are used in cell phones; however, any other device that has a touch plate has the necessary material to add a unique fingerprint scanner.

Facial features

Generally, they are also unique, as they rely on a mixture of several patterns. So they are also used as biometric information, and on the off chance that the device has a camera, the verification of those patterns can be used.

Retina

Like fingerprints, the retina has special patterns that achieve a degree of individual uniqueness. Therefore, the idea of examining the retina to check the veracity of a user’s personal and identification information makes it one of the most accurate biometric payment methods.

Voice

It is another biometric information used to distinguish customers. Nowadays, there are digital assistants that use voice recognition to recognize the user.

DNA

It is one of the best biometric data that exists, however, it is not very easy to make use of this data since uncontaminated DNA samples are required. In addition, it is imperative the use of special devices to be able to recognize the DNA of any individual.

How do biometric payments work?

Biometrics is one of the methods incorporated into payment systems with the intention of verifying user information, either through fingerprints, facial and eye features. Biometric payments work as follows:

• Through smart devices that request confirmation of the user’s identity. This method is born given the rise of mobile wallets that require fingerprint or facial ID verification using biometric recognition technology.
• The use of hardware to capture the customer’s image is another means by which biometric payments work. Typically, a high-definition camera, a point-of-sale terminal or a sizable screen that is capable of accurately capturing this data for biometric verification is used.

What are the advantages of biometric payments?

Biometric payments as a payment method have the following advantages:

• It is a secure method: This is undoubtedly one of the advantages of using biometric payments. Cloning a fingerprint or impersonating another person through facial recognition provides a higher level of security than using a pin or password.
• It is efficient: Another point in favor of biometric payments is that they are much more efficient than conventional payment methods. Their implementation saves customers from problems such as not remembering their secret password, while providing banks with certainty that it is the real customer making the transaction and reducing the risk of card cloning or identity theft.
• Multi-system or multi-channel incorporation: Biometric payments offer the advantage of integrating them into several channels. Specifically, it is possible to have in our unique fingerprint the possibility of managing payments, transfers or cash movements from a single device, for example, our cell phone, connecting several platforms.

Biometric payments are more popular than ever before

In Alice Biometrics offers the technology that makes biometric payment systems possible, which will guarantee security when carrying out any type of transaction.

If you want to know much more about biometric payment systems, let’s talk, we will be happy to give you all the information you need.