JPMorgan Chase is planning a broad roll out of biometric payments with US retailers by early next year, enabling shoppers to make purchases by scanning their palms or faces.
Global biometric payments are expected to reach $5.8 trillion and three billion users by 2026, according to Goode Intelligence.
Last year, JP Morgan signalled its intention to bring the technology to its huge merchant client base, partnering biometrics specialist PopID to conduct a series of pilots.
Now, the bank's executive director of biometrics and identity solutions, Prashant Sharma, tells Payments Dive that more pilots are set for this year before a wider roll out.
“We would like every merchant to adopt this, but at the end of the day, it is going to be a merchant’s choice,” says Sharma.
Sharma says that while "there is a perceived sensitivity" towards biometrics, "we just don’t see this as a big risk".
On what merchants will require for accepting biometric-based payments, he says: "It will take a little bit of time, but hopefully we get to a point where there is an all-in-one device that can do card, tap, dip plus biometric data acceptance as well."
Mastercard recently unveiled a service to make it easy for businesses to integrate biometrics for users logging into apps or websites and making purchases online, while Visa has also worked with PopID on facial verification payments.
Sharma says that, while there will be competition between providers, "there are a lot of places where we can collaborate as well".