China to introduce face recognition payment system


05/22/2017

Payments using biometric technology of human face recognition will soon be launched in China. Ant Financial, a subsidiary of China's Alibaba, has become the first to introduce new technology, Sohu reported. "We have recently completed the pilot phase, and in the near future our development will begin to be applied in practice", said the project’s head.



Devin Ronis
The biometric technology’s creators note that the only thing buyer will have to do is to show the seller their face to scan. Everyone who wants to use this method of payment, will offer to frown, blink or move his head. The recognition machine will analyze the customer's data and the money will be transferred to the seller's account.

Chinese developers expect that the new technology will eliminate fraud. The developers have not revealed the exact date of introduction of the novelty on the Chinese market yet.

Earlier, the US and China signed a trade agreement affecting 10 sectors, reports Bloomberg. Among other things, China agreed to provide "full and immediate access" to Mastercard, Visa and American Express to the domestic market.

"This is one small step of a very long road, and we have been waiting for this step for a very long time", said Chris Donat, Managing Director of Sandler O'Neill, to WSJ. In 2012, the WTO accused China of discriminating international payment systems, and only two years ago China promised to allow Visa and Mastercard to operate in the country.

source: sohu.com, wsj.com