Mastercard Brings Biometric Checkout to Uruguay’s Tienda Inglesa Red Express Store Network

Mastercard has introduced its Biometric Checkout Program at Tienda Inglesa’s Red Expres store in Uruguay, extending its presence in Latin America. The initiative, in partnership with Ingenico, Fulcrum Biometrics, Fujitsu Frontech, and Scanntech, allows customers to make payments using palm recognition technology.

“We are excited to expand our Biometric Checkout Program further into Latin America with the launch of our pilot program at Red Expres,” said Federico Cofman, Cluster Lead for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, Mastercard. “Consumers are looking for more choice in how they pay, and thanks to our collaborative innovation, we can deliver more seamless, secure payment experiences.”

In November of last year, Mastercard and NEC announced a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at leveraging NEC’s facial recognition technology to drive global scalability, and expanding on a previous partnership between the two that was initiated by the Biometric Checkout Program. The financial services giant has sought a variety of partners in different regions to explore the biometric payments concept.

“We are proud to be the first in Latin America to offer palm payments within Mastercard’s Biometric Checkout Program using cutting-edge technology,” said Juan Manuel Parada, General Director at Tienda Inglesa Group. “Innovation is in our DNA, and we always seek to provide our customers with the most practical and adapted ways to make their purchases with the utmost convenience.”

Ingenico Director of Innovation Arnaud Dubreuil emphasized the advantages of palm-based biometrics, asserting that “palm is one of the most secure biometrics for identifying customers and enabling a smooth and seamless payment experience,” and adding that “it is faster than traditional chip and pin and offers several tangible advantages, including unmatched security.”

The Biometric Checkout Program launched in 2022 with a pilot in São Paolo, Brazil, in partnership with St Marche supermarkets and tech partner Payface. In that pilot, customers were able to pre-enroll using the Payface app and confirm purchases with a facial scan at checkout kiosks.

Source: RTIH, Financial IT

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June 4, 2024 – by Tony Bitzionis