• Global financial services provider Mastercard has announced the launch of a pilot program that allows retailers to offer facial recognition and fingerprint scanning-based payments. 

• After registering the face or fingerprint in the app, which gets linked with the credit card details, customers can use their biometrics for payments instead of swiping a card. According to the company, this feature could also help to make personalized recommendations based on past buying behavior.

• The first pilot is expected to launch this week in Brazil in partnership with facial recognition tech provider Payface. The tech will be rolled out across five St. Marche supermarkets in Sao Paulo. More pilots are expected to be rolled out in the Middle East and Asia in the future as a part of a global program.

• Mastercard has been working with several tech providers including PopID, NEC, Payface, Aurus, PaybyFace, and Fujitsu to develop and introduce these types of technologies on a global scale.

Analyst QuickTake: Launching this terminal marks Mastercard’s entry to the biometric payment tech industry, as a solutions provider. However, it has played a key role in the commercial implementation of biometric payment cards, by setting standards which cards must meet to leverage Mastercard’s global payment network. These include the Biometric Evaluation Plan Summary (BEPS), Fingerprint Sensor Evaluation Process , and letters of approval (LOAs).