American Express is testing facial recognition technology to authenticate mobile payments. as part of a wider effort to adapt its services to wearable technology. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company wants to use emerging technologies to appeal to consumers in new segments, such as heavy mobile users who want to use digital payments […]
American Express is testing facial recognition technology to authenticate mobile payments. as part of a wider effort to adapt its services to wearable technology.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the company wants to use emerging technologies to appeal to consumers in new segments, such as heavy mobile users who want to use digital payments and those with little or no credit and others who prefer not to use credit and charge cards.
Many traditional financial firms are facing competition from upstart payment systems.
“There’s a large population better served by something other than credit or charge cards,” Neal Sample, president of the Enterprise Growth group at American Express, told the WSJ.
His group worked with Wal-Mart. to develop a prepaid, reloadable card called Bluebird. It also created a digital wallet and peer-to-peer payment system, called Serve.
According to the WSJ report, David Baldie, AE’s director of technical delivery in Enterprise Growth, has also been testing with ways to enrol and authenticate face images on a mobile device. In December, American Express added support for Apple’s Touch ID in its iOS app.
The technology is not ready for launch but the team demonstrated a version to senior managers in March.
“If we bring it forward, we would follow the full rigor of the development process,” said Mili Doshi, director of mobile product development and innovation at American Express Enterprise Growth. That includes extensive risk and security review, she said.
