Biometric payments: A complete guide for businesses

Key takeaways

• Biometric payments verify identity using fingerprints, facial scans, or voice – speeding up transactions while improving security.

• Adoption of biometric payments is growing across sectors like finance, retail, and transport, thanks to rising consumer expectations and mobile-first tech.

• Airwallex can support your broader payment strategy with its global payment solutions and biometric-authenticated payments through digital wallets.

Fingerprint recognition used to feel futuristic. Now it’s how billions of people unlock their phones, check their bank balance, and approve payments. Today, millions more are using just the wave of their palm or a glance at a camera to buy drinks from 7-Eleven or pay for their daily commute. And it’s a future that could be coming to your city, too.

For businesses, biometric authentication can reduce fraud and speed up transactions, without requiring cards, PINs, or passwords. But with new technology comes new risk. You’ll need to weigh privacy concerns, compliance requirements, and the practicalities of integrating biometric options into your payment systems.

This guide will help you make sense of it all. Whether you’re optimising today’s checkout experience or building for tomorrow’s, this is the place to start.

What are biometric payments?

Biometric payments are a type of payment method that uses unique biological traits, such as your facial structure, fingerprints, iris scans, or voice, to verify your identity and authorise payments. Biometric payments are scanned directly on a device at the point-of-sale. Your data is linked to an account, such as a digital wallet, to make the payment.

Biometric payments can benefit both customers and businesses. It’s convenient and secure, reduces the risk of identity theft, and provides a more streamlined checkout process. You’ll be able to pay on the spot without having to retrieve your wallet, credit card, or phone. It’s also more difficult for you to lose your data or for fraudsters to steal or replicate your data. In comparison, traditional authentication methods rely on less-secure cards, PINs, or passwords.

Using biometric payments is becoming increasingly popular across a wide variety of sectors, as financial institutions and technology providers continue to collaborate to enhance the technology and the user experience it provides to customers. The global biometric market size is estimated at US$0.81 billion in 2025, and is expected to reach US$39.45 billion by 2030.

Types of biometric payments

Biometric payment technology is evolving rapidly. Here’s a quick guide to some types of biometric payments:

Fingerprint scanning

Fingerprint scanning is the most commonly-used form of biometric authentication, and involves a sensor capturing and analysing the unique indentations, ridges, and patterns of a person’s fingerprint. Compared to traditional options, this method is secure and accessible, as every person’s fingerprint is unique.

Facial recognition

Facial recognition (or ‘facial mapping’) uses a camera to analyse the customer’s face. It considers features like the distance between the eyes, the shape of the nose, and the jawline, and then compares the image to stored data to confirm the customer’s identity. It’s efficient and convenient, but customers may be concerned about companies storing their facial data, especially when they’re unaware of the security measures the company is taking to keep their data safe.

An example of facial recognition technology is J.P. Morgan Payments. In early May 2025, it debuted its new biometric payment solution with pilot client South Florida Motorsports, enabling fans to fast-track their shopping and securely pay “with just a smile”. 

Iris scanning

Iris scanning captures the details of the coloured part of a person’s eye, known as the iris, which is unique to each person. This method avoids hygiene concerns tied to fingerprint scanning, as it doesn’t require direct body contact. But iris scanning can be finicky – it requires precise lighting and distance, eyelashes can’t interfere, and customers may need to take off their glasses, which can slow down the process.

Voice recognition

Voice recognition records and analyses a customer’s unique ‘voiceprint’ through different vocal characteristics, such as rhythm, pitch, and tone. It can be cost-effective and a good choice for businesses that need to accept payments over the phone. However, it can be tricky for in-person businesses, as the technology often needs a quiet environment to work properly.

Palm vein mapping (and finger vein mapping)

This is the newest form of biometric payment technology, and involves using a near-infrared (NIR) light sensor to scan the unique patterns of the veins beneath the skin, typically on the palm or finger. This technology was developed by Fujitsu, and Amazon and Ingenico have both adopted it for their biometric payment processes. Consumers have also turned to this technology in China, with providers like WeChat Pay and AliPay offering it. It’s quick and hygienic, but may be difficult for customers with certain conditions affecting the hands to use, such as arthritis or Parkinson’s disease.

How do biometric payments work?

While different types of biometric payments work differently, let’s focus on how a typical process may work using fingerprint, face, or palm vein recognition.

1. The customer registers their biometric data (such as their fingerprint, palm, or face) with the seller, payment provider, or bank using a POS system, other device, or app.

2. The biometric data is transformed into a digital template. A digital template is a secure mathematical representation of the original data. With this process, the technology provider doesn’t have to save the original image. The digital template is then encrypted and saved to either a server or local device.

3. The customer chooses to pay with their biometric data. At checkout, the customer selects this option on their phone or at the POS terminal.

4. The biometric payment system authenticates the payment. It scans the user’s biometric data, such as their palm or fingerprint, on their phone or at the POS terminal and compares it to the stored, encrypted, and digitised template. If it’s a match, their identity is confirmed and the payment can go ahead.

5. The transaction is approved. Once the provider has authenticated the user’s identity, it processes the payment for the customer quickly and securely.

Advantages of biometric payments

Here are some of the key benefits of adopting biometric payments:

Biometric payments can enhance security and reduce fraud

Biometric data is unique to every human, making it difficult to replicate or steal. It leads to fewer incidents of fraudulent transactions, identity theft, and transaction chargebacks. Transactions are secure, protecting both your business and your customers from unauthorised transactions.

Biometric payments can reduce the rate of failed payments

Payments that are securely authenticated using biometrics lead to higher payment success rates in comparison to traditional methods. Our platform, Airwallex, currently offers mobile-fingerprint 3D Secure authentication through digital wallets like Google Pay. This security helps to increase payment success rates.

Biometric payments are faster and more seamless 

With native biometric payments, you don’t need a phone, wallet, or credit card to pay. And you never have to remember a PIN code. A touch, glance, or a few words into a microphone is all that’s needed to authenticate a transaction. This ease makes for faster checkout times and more streamlined transaction flows.

Biometric payments can result in long-term cost savings

While biometric payments aren’t yet mainstream in many parts of the world, it’s worth keeping an eye out for the latest technologies and customer uptake. When and if you do decide to adopt biometric payments, there will be an initial cost outlay to set it up – however, its enhanced security can result in fewer chargebacks, lower fraud management costs, as well as increased sales.

Offering secure, modern payment methods can help build trust

Keeping on top of the latest, most secure payment technologies can help build your brand reputation and keep your customers coming back for more. These payment methods can range from emerging biometric payments or more popular methods such as buy now, pay later (BNPL) options (e.g. Klarna) and digital wallets (e.g. Google Pay).

Disadvantages of biometric payments

As with any kind of technology, biometric payments have their potential drawbacks and challenges.

Biometric payments come with heightened privacy implications

Storing biometric data comes with greater concerns around privacy and security. Compared to other types of data, biometric data uniquely identifies an individual and can’t be replaced, like PINs or passwords. If fraudsters gain access to your biometric data, you could face long-lasting, negative consequences. Likewise, businesses could face serious liability if they fall victim to a biometrics data breach. To gain customers' trust and increase their confidence in biometric payment systems, businesses need to ensure that their biometric payment providers employ the highest level of data encryption and protection protocols, maintain regulatory compliance, and meet all industry standards. 

Biometric payments can be prone to hardware glitches

Technical problems with hardware can also damage the customer experience when using biometric payments. Finger scanners and facial recognition technology experience glitches, leading to checkout delays.

Not everyone may be willing or able to use biometric payments

Accessibility is another issue facing the uptake of biometric payments. Will everyone be able to use biometric payments successfully and safely? Will everyone want to use it? Some may not be willing (or able) to use the technology because of physical changes due to age, health conditions, their personal privacy preferences, or other physical issues. 

Legal and regulatory requirements may not have caught up with biometric payments

Legal and regulatory requirements often take time to catch up with new technologies like biometric payments. On top of that, frameworks governing biometric payments differ across regions, with each having its own data privacy and security laws. Consumer protection laws around liability and dispute resolution may also be unclear. This lack of consistent international standards can make it difficult to implement biometric payments across your business.

We’re keeping an eye on the future of payments

Our platform currently supports biometric-authenticated payments through popular wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, both online and in-store (coming soon). At the same time, our flexible APIs are future-ready: They allow you to integrate payments with emerging technologies, including biometric-authenticated methods, without switching providers. Our services also adhere to the highest international security and compliance standards, including the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and Service Organization Control 2 (SOC 2). Features like tokenization and 3DS authentication provide additional layers of security that are critical for considering biometric payments.

The bottom line? Our global payment solutions can support your broader payment strategy, today and tomorrow. We provide access to preferred and trusted payment methods across regions, including major card schemes and 160+ local payment methods, while staying prepared for the future of payments.

Frequently asked questions

Are biometric payments widely accepted globally?

While biometrics payments continue to grow globally, it’s not yet a universally-accepted payment method across all regions. Regulatory frameworks are still evolving and differ across regions, and there may still be a way to go in gaining public trust. Further development, standardisation, and infrastructure enhancement are needed before it can be a strong alternative to traditional and current payment systems.

What are the security implications of using biometric data for payments?

Using biometric data carries significant security implications. If breached, biometric data can't be changed – unlike passwords or pin codes. To counteract this, businesses must use the highest levels of encryption and overall security to protect their customers, as well as follow all data protection policies to prevent identity theft.

Which industries are likely to adopt biometric payment systems?

Industries likely to adopt biometric payment systems include retail, transport, and hospitality. For example, some supermarkets are already using biometric payments for quick and secure transactions. In many Chinese cities, facial and palm vein recognition is being used within subways and trains to automatically deduct transport fares from linked payment accounts.

How do businesses integrate biometric payment options?

Businesses can integrate biometric payment options into their offering by connecting biometric authentication technology with their existing systems, such as mobile wallets, online payment gateways, and Point of Sale (POS) devices. With Airwallex, you can use digital wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay to offer biometric authentication.

What are the main benefits of biometric payments for consumers?

The key benefits of biometric payments for consumers include improved security to keep their data safe and secure, faster and more seamless transactions, an improved purchasing experience, and increased trust in the sellers they like to purchase from.