MasterCard launching selfie payments

The technology will be rolled out by big banks in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and some European countries over the next few months.

As consumers continue to embrace “next generation of payments” whilst shopping online, Mastercard aims to launch its new facial recognition payment services, also known as ‘selfie pay’ in the UK.

After HSBC announced it is moving to accept biometric voice and fingerprint security prompts last week, Mastercard revealed at the Mobile World Congress tech show in Barcelona that it will soon accept selfie submissions from customers.

Bhalla said that using facial and fingerprint scans for purchases is safer than typed passwords since many customers foolishly use easy-to-guess codes.

If you want to use your pic to pay, download the MasterCard Identity Check app. It has you take a selfie each time you buy something online. If the user opts for a selfie, they will be asked to blink into the camera to prove they are not just holding up a photo. Additional reassurance was given by MasterCard who said that facial scans and fingerprint data will not be transmitted in a way which could be hacked, stolen or compromised.

The fingerprint authentication can be used on newer smartphones.

And MasterCard is researching ways to use your heartbeat and scans of your eyes to authenticate purchases.

MasterCard plans to roll out the Identity Check app this summer, with plans to introduce the technology to the UK, US, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. The key learning from its trials has been that “people hate passwords” and commonly end up using breakable ones such as “123456”, the company said.

Customers with the latest iPhones – which already boast fingerprint login technology – will be able to access their accounts on their mobile phones using their fingerprint.