CASE STUDY Payment With Your Face and Palm

CASE STUDY

By Bence Gaál The technology is being launched by EIT Digital, a leading European digital innovation and entrepreneurial education organization driving Europe’s digital transformation. “The system is composed of three elements,” PeasyPay’s product leader Csaba Körmöczi explains, “a smartphone app for the customer, used only during registration, a smartphone app for the merchants, and the payment terminal.” PeasyPay’s app is available for free on both Android and IOS operating systems. First, customers need to take a picture of their hand and a selfie

with their smartphone camera, in order to allow the system to create a digital profile of their palms and faces. PAYMENT WITH YOUR Next, they have to register their bank card details on an integrated, secure payment gateway. The actual in-store FACE AND PALM payment process is implemented by using a special point-of-sale machine, equipped with cameras and facial recognition software that scans customers’ faces and palms and compares them to the biometric template created in advance.

In the case of a match, the payment is authorized, and the amount is charged to the credit card registered in the payment gateway of the

A new biometric payment system developed by PeasyPay, a startup incorporated in Hungary, looks to make payment faster and more convenient through a solution that allows users to pay by just showing their faces and taking a picture of the palm of their hands.

corresponding PeasyPay account. The fintech company responsible for PeasyPay was launched by EIT Digital in 2019 via its Innovation Factory, where EIT Digital’s partners come together to launch a deep tech venture into the market.

PAY WITH A SMILE

The project is codenamed “Pay with a Smile” and it is part of the digital finance portfolio of the EIT Digital Innovation Factory. The international partnership behind the initiative includes Spanish partners Ci3 and Liberbank, Hungarian partners E-Group and OTP Bank, and Slovenia’s AV Living Lab.

The PeasyPay solution has also been designed to be fully compliant with all European regulations, especially GDPR and national data protection laws. Under GDPR provisions, the processing of biometric data for uniquely identifying purposes is not authorized, unless the data subject has given explicit consent for a specified purpose.

While other payment solutions are fully dependent on a proprietary infrastructure and ecosystem, PeasyPay is based on an open system, meaning that any bank and any merchant can join.

In order to let users have full control over their spending, the app also has

Csaba Körmöczi

“User feedback was mostly positive, and while, naturally, there were problems of varying degree at the time of the system’s launch, such as minor translation issues and speed complications related to network problems, we managed to fix them quickly.”

a feature which allows them to set spending limits and track all payments made through the system. The new payment system’s pilot phase began last year in Hungary, and has been operational in Budapest since December 2019, albeit with a break in the spring due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hungarian pilot involves a coffee shop frequented by the tech-savvy employees of the capital’s District II. In addition, a new marketing campaign for PeasyPay, organized with the help of OTP Bank and E-Group, is expected to be launched soon, targeting members of the local hospitality industry and retail sector.

The testing is not limited to Hungary, however, as another trial is underway

in Guadalajara, Spain. The pilot phase in that city began in July this year, involving four small shops located in the city center, and is gradually being extended to other businesses.

In total, 25 close proximity shops (bakeries, butchers, grocery stores, cafés, bookstores, print shops and herbal shops) will eventually participate in the Spanish trial. According to future plans, the test will be extended to include department stores as well.

POSITIVE FEEDBACK

“User feedback was mostly positive, and while, naturally, there were problems of varying degree at the time of the system’s launch, such as minor translation issues and speed complications related to network problems, we managed to fix them quickly,” Körmöczi tells the Budapest Business Journal.

He adds that a number of requests for new functions were received, mostly from merchants. “We have already fulfilled many of these, and we are looking into possible solutions for the remaining ones.”

While in some cases, feedback during the pilot phase differs greatly depending on the country where the product is tested, this does not seem to be the case for PeasyPay. “Basically, we see serious differences not between countries but between user groups. The attitude of a merchant who has so far been paid only in cash is completely different from that of someone for whom a credit card or even a mobile payment is natural. On the consumer side, at least in the beginning, there is more interest, especially from the younger age group,” he adds.

The testing phase will soon be extended to other markets as well. In the United Kingdom, the system is being set up to let taxi drivers seamlessly pay the fee to enter Glasgow Airport’s parking area.

Körmöczi says that the concrete schedule for a worldwide rollout is in the works, noting that it will happen in multiple phases. Besides the U.K. trial, the next stages will most likely involve Slovenia and Italy.