Mastercard has said it plans to advance in-store biometric payments by partnering with face recognition tech company NEC Corporation.

The card issuer said that through the partnership, the same technology used to unlock phones or tablets will soon be used at in-store checkouts in the Asia Pacific region.

Mastercard says its Biometric Checkout Program, which launched with a pilot in Brazil in 2022, will "transform in-store payments" by allowing consumers to pay by simply smiling or waving.

Research by the company published last year found that 82 per cent of consumers in Asia Pacific already use at least one form of biometrics.

The partnership will implement NEC's face recognition and liveness verification technology alongside Mastercard's payment enablement to "drive global scale", with Mastercard saying they plan to roll out the biometric payments tech to further regions in the future.

According to Mastercard, by 2025 biometrics will authenticate over $3 trillion in payment transactions.

"As retailing environments continue to evolve and choices in ways to pay rapidly expand, biometric solutions offer a seamless, quick and secure checkout, without needing to unlock a phone or insert a PIN,” said Ajay Bhalla, president, cyber and intelligence solutions, Mastercard. "This partnership with NEC will enable us to bring exciting new biometric payments to customers in countries across Asia Pacific and lead the world in safe and convenient checkout experiences."

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