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Biometrics, eye scanners set to replace plastic

dubai - Visa is testing these technologies to make life easy for merchants and consumers

Imagine if someone can buy a cup of coffee through biometrics without touching his or her finger to any machine and also make payment through eye scanning only. Yes it's going to be possible soon.

Visa, a global payment technology company, is testing these technologies to make life easy for merchants as well as consumers. Globally, 85 per cent of the total transactions are through cash, and the UAE is better as 75 per cent of the total transactions are in cash in the country. There are around 350,000 merchants and 170 government entities dealing with cash transactions in the UAE.

"Our goal is to reduce cash as much as possible," John McGuire, vice-president of innovation and strategic partnerships for the CEMEA region at Visa, told Khaleej Times at Gitex Technology Week.

At the ongoing Gitex 2016, Visa is showcasing latest prototypes it has developed to demonstrate the simplicity of digital payments in the near future.

For example, Morphowave Coffee Shop allows customers to pay by fingerprinting without touching the machine. Its Iris Scan facilitates payment transactions simply by having customers scan their eye. It is a perfect mode of payment in a water park where people don't need to carry cash, card or even mobile phone.

At Gitex, Visa is also showcasing Banking Chatbot, which is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that services customers and saves them the hassle of waiting in virtual and physical queues.

"Visa is currently collaborating with partners, including banks and government bodies like Tecom Group, to encourage and foster innovation, entrepreneurship and digital advancements, including working together on pilot programmes," McGuire informed.

"Our purpose is to solve our clients' problems. We interview them and we also do their customers' interviews to understand their top problems," he explained.

Talking about Morphowave Coffee Shop concept by using biometrics technology, he said "We are piloting it soon by introducing it for events. So we will try to get the consumers' feedback. It could be used in ice cream parlours or any other shops."

Visa is the exclusive payment partner for the Olympic Games. He mentioned that the company tested its NFC (near field communication) rings to make payment. "We provided ceramic rings to our partners with preloaded cash and they used it without using card at merchants at Rio Olympics," he explained. He mentioned that in the UAE it could be Swarovski ring.

McGuire said that these technologies will be part of Smart City Dubai. Visa supports the government initiative to make Dubai a smart city. "We are here to support and we are going to stay here," he added.

In May this year, Visa opened its third global innovation centre at Dubai Internet City that will help develop payment technology solutions for the region.

- abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com