Revolut pilots facial recognition payments in London

Revolut has launched a pilot program in London for its facial recognition payment service, ‘Pay with Smile’. The technology allows customers to authorize transactions with a glance, eliminating the need for physical cards or smartphones. The pilot is being tested at Kiss the Hippo cafes in the Bloomsbury, Chelsea, and Soho areas of London.

The system utilizes the ‘Revolut Register’, a new modular point-of-sale (POS) terminal designed for the hospitality sector. To use the service, customers must actively opt-in via the Revolut app, which verifies their identity against the biometric data provided during account setup. Revolut states that facial data is encrypted end-to-end and is not stored by merchants.

To encourage adoption, Revolut is offering 0% processing fees to merchants using the biometric system and providing triple RevPoints to participating customers. While the company aims to create a more efficient checkout experience, privacy campaigners, including Big Brother Watch, have raised concerns regarding the security of biometric data and the potential for deepfake misuse.