Fingopay breaks new ground in first bank-to-bank finger vein ID transaction

The partnership allows retailers and merchants to handle bank-to-bank transactions (in addition to traditional card rails), reducing costs and receiving instant settlement in up to three hours, as opposed to the typical three to five-day lag time with card payments.

The month-long pilot comes as a result of an ongoing partnership with Reflow as Fingopay gears up for its global launch in Manchester later this quarter. From Spring, merchants across the city will be the first in the world to adopt the Fingopay network and let customers pay with just a scan of their finger.

Nick Dryden, CEO at Sthaler the creators of Fingopay, commented, “Through this Open Banking pilot, we can demonstrate to the FCA, the financial services industry and retail partners how versatile, reliable and secure Fingopay is for payment acceptance.”

“Our biometric finger vein payment technology offers an innovative and unique way for Reflow to combine bank-to-bank payment with physical, face to face payments at point of sale, and this trial demonstrates the future potential of this type of identity authenticated customer experience.”

Fingopay uses Hitachi VeinID technology to allow customers to prove identity and pay using only their finger. It enables fast, safe, secure transactions, with no need for cash, cards or passwords.

At tills, harmless infrared light maps the unique pattern of finger veins, verifying payment in two seconds through its biometric cloud-based matching system. As no card or mobile is needed the payment process is quicker than any other way to pay. Unlike fingerprints, a vein pattern leaves no trace and cannot be copied. It is an ideal biometric for high security authentication.

Dryden continued, “2020 will be a crucial year for Fingopay as we roll out our payment and ID technology across various markets in Manchester, the UK, Europe and North Africa. We are excited that this pilot with Reflow allows us to instantly provide solutions for those adopting Fingopay, no matter the payment partner, scheme or processing application required.”

CTO of Reflow, Diptesh Mishra said, “Reflow’s Variable Recurring Payment APIs built into our core payments platform enable a number of innovative use cases with ease, security and speed. It was great working with Open Banking to understand their vision and work closely with Fingopay”.

Chris Michael, CTO of Open Banking, said “The Open Banking Implementation Entity is very excited to see Variable Recurring Payments being brought to life for retail payments. This pilot shows the integration of Reflow’s API with the Fingopay POS, simplifying checkouts for customers and providing a glimpse of the future for digital card-less payments.”