Russia launches facial recognition system for payments at supermarkets

Moscow - About 3,000 stores in country to feature new payment systems by end of the year.

Russia’s X5 group, the country’s leading food retailer, announced Wednesday the launch of a facial recognition payment system, the latest expansion of a technology that has sparked privacy and security concerns.

To launch its facial recognition payment system the X5 group, which owns the Pyaterochka convenience stores and the Perekrestok supermarket chain, has joined forces with the Visa payment system and Russia’s state giant Sberbank that is striving to become an IT company.

The service has rolled out in 52 Perekrestok supermarkets and will expand to a total of 150 by the end of the month, X5 innovation director Ivan Melnik told AFP, adding that the system will also be available in 30 Pyaterochka stores by the end of April.

He said some 3,000 stores across Russia will feature facial recognition payment systems by the end of the year.

At a Moscow supermarket on Tuesday, the service appeared to be winning the support of younger customers.

“It’s great because the 21st century is the era of technology,” said 28-year-old banker Andrei Epifanov.

But he added that he thinks older people may not trust the new technology.

The service will only be available at self-service checkouts for Sberbank customers after the bank recently allowed its users to set up facial recognition to pay from their accounts.

To complete the transaction in the pandemic era, customers will need to remove their facemasks “for a second and look into the camera”, the companies behind the payment system said in a statement.