Singapore-based FinTech firm Touche has launched a new payments platform that lets merchants accept fingerprint scans as a payment option, reports Channel NewsAsia.
The system links participating customers’ fingerprints to their credit cards, allowing them to forego use of the cards themselves after registering. It just launched in Singapore with its first customer, a restaurant called Grignoter; and private club Madison Rooms has also implemented the system. Touche says it’s currently in talks to bring the system to up to 150 more businesses in the hospitality industry, and is hoping to expand the system to the US and Japan.
Such ‘naked payments’ systems are emerging as a potentially significant FinTech trend, with the Japanese government currently working with the private sector to develop a fingerprint-based payments system to be used to track tourists’ activities during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. But the costs could prove an obstacle in bringing such systems to market without government support. Grignoter’s owner says the system cost $S6,500, or almost $4,500 USD, to implement in his restaurant.
Still, the technology is in a nascent phase and costs are likely to come down. And with major financial services giants like Visa already experimenting with naked payments, it could become a prominent payment option in the future.
Source: Channel NewsAsia
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January 16, 2017 – by Alex Perala
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