US merchants are testing biometric payments with JP Morgan

JP Morgan is planning to test biometric payments with retailers in the US, reports Finextra. This will allow shoppers to make purchases by scanning their palms or faces. After a short enrolment process in store, customers can pay for their items by scanning their palm or face. For the customer, the payments are phone-free, private, secure, fast and simple.

The global biometric payments market is expected to reach $5.8 trillion and three billion users by 2026 according to Goode Intelligence. Fast food giant Panera Bread has also revealed that it is piloting palm reading technology from Amazon that lets customers pay and access the chain’s loyalty programme.

Jean-Marc Thienpont, head of omnichannel solutions at JP Morgan Payments said “At its heart, biometrics-based payments empowers our merchant clients to deliver a better customer payment experience. We are a trusted payments provider and financial institution worldwide, and fully equipped to manage the highly secure identification points that power biometrics solutions. The evolution of consumer technology has created new expectations for shoppers, and merchants need to be ready to adapt to these new expectations.”

JP Morgan is looking to bring this technology to its huge merchant client base. The first pilots will be run with brick-and-mortar stores in the US and could include the Formula 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix in May. A wider rollout could follow next year.