In October, Rostelecom will present a solution for paying for goods and services in stores using facial images, two people close to the project participants told Vedomosti. A representative of Rostelecom confirmed this. Rostelecom is the operator of the Unified Biometric System (UBS), which became operational in July last year; one of the initiators of its creation was the Central Bank. Russians can submit biometric data to the system - casts of voices and images of faces - at bank branches. According to the law, the acceptance of biometrics is required for the vast majority of them. With the help of the EBS, Russians can remotely open bank accounts, make transfers and take loans. However, only a few banks provide services to those who contact them remotely through the EBS, and the system itself managed to collect only 20,000 records in a year, the Central Bank reported.
They want to present a prototype of a solution for payment by a Rostelecom person with Russian Standard in October 2019 at the Finopolis financial technology forum, a representative of Rostelecom points out. As part of the prototype, with the help of a face, it will be possible to buy coffee in a coffee machine, says a person close to one of the project participants.
At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum "Russian Standard" demonstrated the possibility of paying for coffee in a coffee machine using a QR code - using the Fast Payment System (FPS), which is operated by the Central Bank. This time the coffee machine will be different, the Vedomosti source promised.
In late autumn, the solution may begin to be distributed to the wide market, says a representative of Rostelecom. To start paying by face image, you need to create a bunch of a bank card with a biometric sample - you can do this in the application of Rostelecom or a bank that supports payment by face, he explains.
For operations up to 1000 rubles. identification by face will be enough (that is, without presenting a card), he continues, for payments for large amounts, you will need to enter a verification code. This approach is already being applied in world practice - a similar mechanism works in China, he stressed. When asked how much the speed of the transaction will increase, given the expectation of a response from the EBS, and then the payment system, to the card of which the biometric sample is tied, a representative of Rostelecom said that “the use of biometrics significantly speeds up the process”. True, it is stipulated, while it is necessary to take into account "the full cycle of customer payment in the store, which includes searching for a card in a wallet or a mobile device linked to, for example, Apple Pay, as well as searching for a loyalty card in a wallet or on a mobile device." Online userInstead of typing in card details and confirming payment via sms, he can use the payment function via biometric identification - look at the camera and say a five-digit code, this payment method is easier and faster, and also safer, he said.
Now it is impossible to use the EBS data for payment by a person: the law limits the list of services that can be provided with its help, loans, transfers and opening accounts. The bill, allowing banks to use the EBS to provide any services, was adopted in the first reading, the Central Bank expects to be adopted in the autumn session. At the same time, the government, in its response to the project, considered such an increase in the use of the EBS premature due to the increased risks of money laundering.
Sberbank, the main competitor of Rostelecom in the collection of biometrics, is also preparing to introduce payment on the face. In his own biometric system there are already millions of samples, said at the end of last year the chairman of the bank German Gref, the bank does not disclose current data. The bank has described in detail in the terms of settlements with retail outlets (posted on the bank's website) updated from June 20, how a buyer can pay where biometric terminals are installed without a card.
You can link your biometric data (fingerprint or face image) with a Sberbank card right in a store equipped with special equipment. So far, the bank is conducting such experiments in the Azbuka Vkusa network, and does not disclose plans for the distribution of the service.
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The systems of Rostelecom and Sberbank will be able to work in parallel, the operator's representative assures. And he added that Rostelecom is in talks with several large banks and payment platforms.
The EBS does not yet have enough biometric data to draw conclusions about the need to use them as another method of payment, says VTB Vice President Alexei Kirichek, it is too early to comment on the initiative. Otkrytie's vice president, Alexander Dynin, believes that the system needs a long enough time to calibrate and set up before it can be said about its relevance and safety for customers. At the same time, he believes that the introduction of payment using the EBS will give potential for the development of the system, since daily transactions are much more in demand than the one-time registration of bank products available in the EBS now.
User experience will be decisive, says Ksenia Andreeva, head of transaction products at Raiffeisenbank. The interest of retail outlets in the service is “noticeable,” says Inna Emelyanova, director of the acquiring department of Russian Standard, but a clearer understanding will be after the presentation of the service. Of the networks surveyed, only the answer from Magnit was obtained: they consider this direction to be promising. In one of the stores, a similar technology of payment by face is already being tested, being implemented with other partners - SWiP and VisionLabs. In the near future, the service will be implemented in two more stores in Krasnodar. Magnit is ready to consider proposals from other companies.
The representative of the Central Bank said only that "bioequiring is one of the international trends in the development of the payment industry, we are now studying it."
Two bankers pay attention that for banks a request to the EBS is paid - 200 rubles. and paying in the face would be too expensive, comparable to the cost of a cup of coffee. Rostelecom understands that this is too much, and is now developing tariffs, says its representative.
Anna Eremina