The solution, Trustly ID, allows customers to verify their identity through their bank, choose to be remembered for future logins, and then log in and pay at merchants and gaming platforms using facial recognition or fingerprint authentication, the pay-by-bank solution provider said in a Wednesday (March 26) press release.

Trustly ID will make its debut as part of the company’s Pay N Play solution for gaming companies, allowing players to verify their identities and access their gaming accounts without manual or bank logins and know your customer (KYC) flows, according to the release.

“Trustly ID is a game-changer — bringing the next evolution of speed, security and convenience to payments,” Daniel Hecker, chief product officer at Trustly Europe, said in the release. “We are simplifying payments and redefining how customers interact with merchants and gaming platforms.”

Biometrics systems are gaining popularity as an authentication method for more and more digital tasks, including retail purchases, because they offer a seamless shopping experience, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and AWS collaboration, “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Biometric Authentication in the Age of Mobile.”

The report found that nearly 60% of the U.S. consumers who made online purchases in the previous month used biometric authentication to validate their transactions. Among the consumers who made purchases on mobile devices, 80% used this method.

Facial recognition and fingerprint scans are the most widely used biometric methods for validating online transactions on mobile devices, according to the report.

Trustly said in January that it would soon roll out an enhanced version of Pay N Play that would reduce players’ average login time, combine logins and deposits into a single flow, and allow customers to start playing in fewer than 20 seconds.

The company launched the original Pay N Play in 2015 to reduce onboarding time by connecting players to their bank accounts via Trustly’s pay-by-bank platform and enable payments in a logged-out state.

The gaming industry has benefited from Trustly’s solutions that meet regulatory challenges and facilitate seamless deposits for legal online gaming activities, Trustly Chief Product Officer Adam D’arcy told PYMNTS in an interview posted in January.

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The terminals — a payment tablet called J.P. Morgan Paypad and a payment pin pad called J.P. Morgan Pinpad — are scheduled to be released in the United States in the second half and rolled out internationally after that, the company said in a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

The new hardware will join J.P. Morgan Payments’ full-stack omnichannel solution that is designed for businesses of all sizes, according to the release.

The J.P. Morgan Paypad and Pinpad will enable merchants to accept payment methods like chip, contactless, swipe, QR code and biometric authentication, the release said.

They are equipped with facial recognition and infrared palm vein cameras; Wi-Fi, cellular, USB and Ethernet connectivity; and PCI PTS V6 and future PCI PTS V7 compliance, per the release.

Both terminals also feature a lightweight design and can be powered by rechargeable batteries or plugged in, making them suitable for a variety of retail environments, the release said.

Nearly half of online shoppers in the U.S. use some type of biometric authentication method for purchasing online, and around 15% said they are interested in doing so in the future, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and AWS collaboration, “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Biometric Authentication in the Age of Mobile.”

The report found that facial recognition and fingerprint scans are the most widely used biometrics methods, with more than 1 in 4 consumers using one of these to validate their online transactions on their smartphones.

In an earlier deployment of biometric payments, J.P. Morgan Payments said in May 2024 that it partnered with South Florida Motorsports (SFM) to facilitate both on-site and online purchases of merchandise for a Formula One race being held that month in Miami.

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The technology is being used to enhance ticketing, credentialing, and sales of concessions, merchandise and alcohol, BiometricUpdate.com reported Tuesday (Dec. 31).

The report cited examples of solutions being deployed by companies and leagues in the United States, Europe and Latin America.

Among the firms offering biometric solutions for live events are Wicket, Veridas, Clear and NEC, according to the report.

In addition, almost half of venues in the global live events industry consider biometrics a top initiative for 2025, the report said.

Recent deployments include a face biometrics solution at the 85,000-capacity Mâs Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a biometric identity verification solution at a Betplay League final at the Atanasio Girardot stadium in Medellín, Colombia, per the report.

One biometric ticketing system, the MLB’s Go-Ahead Entry, can reduce wait times when entering the stadium by as much as 68%, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Novel ID Verification Technologies in Stadiums Can Change the Game Beyond Sports.”

Go-Ahead Entry, which links facial recognition with ticket accounts to make the process touchless, quick and secure, is just one example of how digital identity verification and blockchain-based ticketing are helping stadium operators enhance the fan experience, the report found.

At the same time, these solutions often face privacy concerns from fans worried about data misuse and surveillance. These concerns can be mitigated by stadiums employing solutions like barcode scanning, working within regulatory limits, and balancing inclusivity and reliability, per the report.

Biometrics are being deployed in other sectors as well.

Mastercard said in November that it plans to phase out the need to enter card numbers, static passwords and one-time codes when making online purchases by replacing this process with a new one enabled by a combination of tokenization and biometric authentication. The company plans to make this change globally by 2030.

In September, Visa and Tencent partnered to launch a pay-by-palm solution, first in Singapore and then in other markets. With a one-time enrollment, a Visa payment token will be bound to the biometric template of each participant’s palm, allowing them to make future payments just by waving their palm.

For all PYMNTS digital transformation coverage, subscribe to the daily Digital Transformation Newsletter.

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The collaboration brings together Tencent’s palm recognition technology and Visa’s payment token and other technology, the companies said in a Wednesday (Nov. 6) press release.

The pay-by-palm service will start with a pilot program in Singapore that will include Visa cardholders from participating banks — including DBS, OCBC and UOB — and a café called Alchemist, according to the release. It will then expand in the future.

“Our aim is to enhance the payment experience and ensure that our customers can enjoy seamless transactions with the highest level of security,” Adeline Kim, Visa country manager for Singapore and Brunei, said in the release.

During the pilot program, participants will enroll at the merchant’s point of sale by tapping their Visa card, scanning their palm and completing a one-time authentication, according to the release.

By completing that one-time enrollment, a Visa payment token will be bound to the biometric template of their palm, the release said. In the future, they will be able to make payments to participating merchants by just waving their palm.

The Tencent Palm hardware and software promises safety and security by verifying both palm prints and unique patterns of veins under the skin and by encrypting user data, per the release.

Most consumers who have used biometric solutions like pay by palm as an authentication method prefer this technology to other solutions, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Consumer Authentication Preferences for Online Banking and Transactions.”

The benefits of palm biometric payments extend to consumers and businesses, the report found. Consumers enjoy the convenience of completing transactions with a quick scan of their palm, while businesses benefit from increased efficiency and security.

Another company that has deployed a palm payment tool is Amazon, which said in March that its Amazon One service is available at over 500 Amazon-owned Whole Foods stores, several of Amazon’s own stores, and a range of third-party locations that have partnerships with Amazon.

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“Go-Ahead Entry is a completely optional, fast and easy, hands-free, free-flow entry experience, where fans don’t need to stop or get their phone out to scan a ticket,” MLB spokesperson Karri Zaremba, senior vice president of product – ballpark experience and ticketing, told PYMNTS. “The main goals of Go-Ahead Entry are to address fan feedback about having to wait in lines at the gate and convert what was previously a potentially frustrating experience into a welcoming and delightful experience.”

Go-Ahead Entry is available at seven stadiums for the following teams: Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays.

To enroll in Go-Ahead Entry, fans can go to the MLB Ballpark app where they can take a selfie, which is converted into a unique numerical token that’s associated with the fan’s MLB account, Zaremba said. This makes any tickets the fan has eligible for Go-Ahead Entry at any ballpark where the program is available.

“The image itself is immediately discarded,” Zaremba said. “Then, when a fan walks through a clearly marked Go-Ahead Entry lane, the Go-Ahead cameras, enabled by our service provider, will perform the same process to see if there is a match. Go-Ahead Entry enrollees will then have any tickets for that event automatically validated. Go-Ahead Entry is typically paired with free-flow security screening technology to ensure the entire entry experience is free-flow, so all fans have to do is simply walk straight in.”

The information MLB collects via the program is secure, according to a frequently asked questions section on the Go-Ahead Entry webpage.

“We have implemented technical, administrative and physical security measures designed to protect fan information from unauthorized access, disclosure, use and modification that follow or exceed industry standards for security,” the page said.

Enrollment in the program is restricted to adults, but children can enter the game with an enrolled adult as part of a ticketed group if their tickets are linked.

“The overwhelming majority of fan feedback has been extremely favorable, with 98% of fans surveyed who have used Go-Ahead Entry saying their experience was positive,” Zaremba said. “In addition to Go-Ahead Entry being 68% faster than traditional ingress lanes, MLB Clubs say Go-Ahead Entry also provides a ‘surprise and delight’ moment to fans entering the ballpark, where gate attendants can greet the fan by name as they welcome them to the game. The most consistent feedback we’ve received from fans is, ‘When will this be at all gates?’ So, we’re seeing a lot of demand for Go-Ahead Entry to be available across more gate locations and entrances.”

During the offseason, MLB will evaluate the implementation of Go-Ahead Entry at more stadiums, Zaremba said.

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Underpinning that is the emerging need for a digital identity layer. With the news that Google Wallet on Thursday (Sept. 12) unveiled a suite of new features — among them the ability to create digital IDs for use at select TSA checkpoints — financial institutions (FIs) and payment solution providers have new ways to leverage biometric authentication, addressing identity authentication pain points.

With transactions growing in complexity, volume and value, there is a heightened demand for security, efficiency and seamless experiences. In both consumer and B2B landscapes, digital payments are booming, but this growth is accompanied by rising fraud threats and the complexities of identity verification.

Biometrics, or the use of unique biological characteristics such as fingerprints, facial recognition or voice patterns for identification and authentication, is emerging as a powerful solution to address several of these pain points. This technology offers not just enhanced security but also the potential to streamline payment processes, making it particularly valuable where stakes are high and transactions more complex.

Read more: 3 Big Ideas From PYMNTS Intelligence’s Digital Wallets UK Report

Biometrics: Revolutionizing Security, Fraud Prevention and Efficiency in Payments

As the digital economy grows, so does the need for secure and reliable identity verification. In many cases, payment fraud occurs not because of vulnerabilities in the payment process itself but because of weaknesses in identity verification.

By integrating biometrics into digital identity verification, businesses can significantly reduce the risk of account takeovers and synthetic identity fraud. Biometric data provides a unique, immutable marker that ties the individual to the account, making it more difficult for fraudsters to create fake identities or gain unauthorized access.

“We’re excited about the potential of future technologies like biometrics and behavioral analytics in further streamlining authentication while enhancing security,” Brad Rosenfeld, chief marketing officer at Prove Identity, told PYMNTS, adding that “markets like Brazil and India are rapidly embracing mobile-first solutions and are fully on board with digital transformation, with everyone looking for new ways to work with financial services.”

According to “Digital Wallets Beyond Financial Transactions: A Global Perspective,” a PYMNTS Intelligence and Google Wallet collaboration, 70% of consumers across Brazil, France, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S. use digital wallets.

“Digital wallets are on a hockey-stick trajectory right now,” Chuck Fagan, president and CEO of Velera — the newly rebranded PSCU/Co-op Solutions — told PYMNTS.

As governments and regulatory bodies increase pressure on businesses to comply with stricter know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) standards, biometric verification is well positioned to become a cornerstone of compliance efforts in the payments space — and one of the more interesting opportunity areas could be across the B2B landscape.

See also: Digital Wallets Beyond Financial Transactions: A Global Perspective

Biometrics: Revolutionizing Security, Fraud Prevention and Efficiency in B2B Payments 

While biometric authentication is already making waves in consumer payments — think smartphone-based facial recognition or fingerprint authentication for mobile wallets — the B2B sector is uniquely positioned to benefit from this technology’s potential.

One of the key pain points in B2B transactions is the cumbersome process of verifying identities. In industries like supply chain management, manufacturing and professional services, ensuring that the correct parties are authorized to approve or complete transactions often requires time-consuming manual processes. The introduction of digital identity verification using biometrics could help to reduce these delays.

For instance, integrating biometric solutions with enterprise resource planning (ERP) and treasury management systems could enable real-time identity verification of employees, suppliers and vendors. This would accelerate approval processes and reduce the likelihood of human error or fraud. Whether it’s approving a payment, signing a contract or accessing sensitive financial data, biometric verification can streamline workflows.

In the future, we may see even more advanced forms of biometric authentication, such as behavioral biometrics, which monitor user behaviors like typing patterns or mouse movements. These technologies can provide additional layers of security by continuously authenticating users as they interact with payment systems, rather than relying on one-time verifications.

Read more: 5 Emerging Security Imperatives for Digital Wallets 

Biometrics also has the potential to enable seamless cross-border payments by simplifying identity verification across different jurisdictions. This could be particularly beneficial in the B2B landscape, where international transactions often involve navigating a maze of different regulations and compliance requirements.

Interoperability is another fundamental aspect of biometric adoption.

“When it comes to being able to digitize and save these IDs, and of course to use them, the first and most critical thing to establish are sound and complete standards,” Alan Stapelberg, group product manager at Google Wallet, told PYMNTS. As he explained, identity is a global use case, and digital IDs must be able to function across borders just as physical IDs do today. This requires collaboration among various stakeholders to build solutions that are universally accessible and interoperable.

Still, recent PYMNTS Intelligence data shows that while some people are using digital wallets to store IDs, not many (about 8%) are actively using them. And separately, the integration of biometric authentication into existing payment systems requires significant investment in technology infrastructure. Small- to medium-sized businesses, in particular, may find it difficult to justify the cost of upgrading their systems, despite the long-term benefits that biometrics can offer.

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This solution uses facial recognition and liveliness checks to verify account users in cases in which the bank’s machine learning (ML) algorithms have detected potentially fraudulent transactions, Airtel Payments Bank said in a Tuesday (Aug. 20) press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Face Match first calculates a threat score based on user behavior, transaction pattern and location, historical data, device and mobile app-based signals, according to the release.

If a user exceeds this threat score, the account is secured to prevent fraudulent transactions and the user is notified on their mobile number that they must complete a quick verification to proceed with a transaction, the release said.

A link in the notification takes the user to the Face Match section of the Airtel app, where they can take a selfie that is then compared to a photo from their onboarding process, per the release.

If there is a successful match, the user can continue with their transactions; if there isn’t, they must visit a banking location for biometric verification, the release said.

Biometric authentication tools have been embraced in the United States, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence and AWS collaboration, “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Biometric Authentication in the Age of Mobile.”

More than half of U.S. consumers who completed online purchases used biometric authentication to validate their transactions, with 28% of these consumers using facial recognition and 49% using fingerprint scans.

That report also found that about 15% of U.S. consumers have not used biometric authentication methods but are interested in doing so, while 34% have not used those methods and are not interest in doing so.

In another deployment of biometric technology, IDEX Biometrics said Aug. 14 that TaluCard plans to launch a physical biometric payment card and complementary app designed to provide an accessible and secure payment solution for users with visual impairments.

Slated for introduction in the United Kingdom in late 2024, the payment card features fingerprint authentication, tactile guidance markers that help users locate the fingerprint sensor, and the ability to make contactless transactions without PINs or signatures.

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That’s Michael Will, head of Bavaria’s data regulator, speaking to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Sunday (Aug. 18) about concerns over Worldcoin’s iris-scanning technology. 

As that report noted, Germany is far from alone in its concern, with more than a dozen jurisdictions having either suspended Worldcoin’s operations or launched probes into the company, founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

As PYMNTS wrote last year, the Worldcoin project’s stated goal is to capture participants’ biometrics with its proprietary Orb to provide them with a “proof of personhood” — as well as the company’s digital currency — something that the company said “will become more important as increasingly powerful AI [artificial intelligence] models become available.” 

In other words — and as the WSJ report pointed out — it’s a case of Altman using the technology from one of his companies to protect people from the potential downside of his other firm.

So far, the project has drawn a mix of both support — 6 million people have signed up — and skepticism. For example, regulators in Hong Kong raided the company’s offices there in May, while Spain and Portugal have both blocked its use. The Bavarian regulator is expected to release a decision in its investigation soon.

Their concerns are multifaceted, the report said. How does the company train its algorithms? What steps does it take to avoid scanning children? What does it do with user data? And several authorities have accused Worldcoin of telling operators of its Orb scanning device to encourage users to turn over iris images. 

According to the report, privacy advocates say these images could be used to construct a global biometric database with little oversight.

Damien Kieran, Worldcoin’s chief privacy officer, told WSJ any venture like this one was bound to attract scrutiny, and the project was working with regulators to address concerns. 

For now, WorldCoin has paused its image-sharing option for users while it develops a new process, he said, and its training materials don’t ask operators to induce users to share biometric data, said Kieran.

“We’ve built a technology that by default is privacy-enhancing,” Kieran said in an interview. “We don’t collect data to harvest it. We don’t sell data. In fact, we couldn’t sell it, because we don’t know who the data belongs to.”

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Developed in collaboration with IDEX Biometrics and an unnamed London-based issuer, the card is expected to be introduced in the United Kingdom in late 2024, according to a Wednesday (Aug. 14) press release.

The TaluCard payment card features fingerprint authentication, tactile guidance markers that help users locate the fingerprint sensor, and the ability to make contactless transactions without PINs or signatures, the release said.

The TaluCard app that supports the card includes proprietary access technology offering discreet audio feedback that helps visually impaired users verify transaction details securely and privately, according to the release.

Together, these solutions aim to serve the 2.3 million people in the U.K. who have some form of visual impairment, per the release.

TaluCard is compliant with the U.K. Consumer Duty and Accessibility laws and the European Accessibility Act, which is set to take effect in 2025, according to the release.

“We share the conviction with TaluCard that digital and financial inclusion is critical for economic growth and should be a key priority for banks and FinTechs,” IDEX Biometrics Chief Commercial Officer Catharina Eklof said in the release.

Steve Tyler, director of assistive technology at Leonard Cheshire and former head of strategy at the Royal National Institute of Blind People, said in the release: “TaluCard is a groundbreaking solution that instantly removes some of the challenges of payment experiences; through the simple expedient of seamless biometric identification, there is no need to be concerned about misuse of a card or handling unusual or inaccessible point-of-sale solutions.”

Biometric authentication continues to gain prominence due to the convenience and security it offers, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Biometric Authentication in the Age of Mobile.”

Twenty-eight percent of consumers said fingerprint scans or facial recognition are their preferred authentication method, with younger generations using biometrics for convenience and older consumers using the technology to enhance security, the report found.

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J.P. Morgan Payments expanded its partnership with consumer authentication firm PopID.

The collaboration offers in-store biometric payments to merchants in pilot programs across the United States, allowing shoppers to use a “pay-by-face” system without relying on their phones or credit cards, according to a Tuesday (Aug. 6) press release.

“Biometric loyalty program check-in and payment provides a swift ordering and checkout experience for merchants and customers alike,” the release said. “PopID research has shown the platform decreases ordering and checkout times by up to 90 seconds per transaction and can increase ticket size by 4%.”

Among the merchants using the program is fast food chain Whataburger, which is already accepting biometric payments through PopID’s solution and now plans to extend biometric payments with J.P. Morgan Payments’ processing, per the release.

“Whataburger has already seen a positive impact with faster checkout times and increased loyalty engagement at the counter and on self-ordering kiosks,” the release said. “After registering for biometric loyalty and payment in the Whataburger mobile app, guests no longer need to pull out their mobile phones and scan the QR code to check into the loyalty program or further authenticate payment, which is done through a biometric scan.”

J.P. Morgan began testing biometric payments at retailers last year. Efforts like this come in response to consumer demand for biometric authentication offerings.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Consumer Authentication Preferences for Online Banking and Transactions” found that close to half of all consumers had used biometrics — fingerprint, face or voice recognition — to gain access to online accounts and payment methods in the month before being surveyed.

Fifty-two percent of that group said biometrics was their preferred authentication method. In addition, the study found that 31% of consumers see biometrics as the most secure method for authentication, while 9% of consumers said the same about passwords. The data also showed that respondents saw biometrics as somewhat more convenient, faster and easier to use than passwords.

Another PYMNTS Intelligence report “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Biometric Authentication in the Age of Mobile” showed that two-thirds of consumers use or show interest in biometric identification methods. Eighty percent of consumers using biometric authentication said they use the technology to make purchases with their mobile devices.

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