'Pay with smile’ facial recognition tech trialled in London cafes

Digital financial firm Revolut is piloting a new facial recognition payment system in London that allows customers to pay for items with a “simple glance”.

The Pay with Smile feature will be available at participating businesses using Revolut Register terminals, with the pilot launching in the capital this Thursday.

Customers will initially be able to try out the technology at Kiss the Hippo cafes in Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho this week.

Simply tap Pay with Smile on a Revolut Register screen before completing a facial identity check, which is similar to using facial recognition to unlock a smartphone or access a banking app.

The technology then verifies a customer’s identity against the checks they completed when signing up to Revolut.

If the facial match is successful, an account-to-account payment is authorised.

Customers must actively opt in to use the feature through their Revolut app settings.

Revolut said customers will not be enrolled automatically and can withdraw their consent at any time.

Alex Codina, general manager of merchant payments at Revolut Business, said: “By combining high-performance processing with facial recognition technology, we’re replacing outdated, fragmented tills with a hyper-efficient checkout experience designed to solve consumer and merchant pain points.”

The company said facial recognition data is encrypted end-to-end, while personal data will not be stored by participating merchants.

Alex Damgaci, managing director at Kiss the Hippo Coffee, said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming guests to try Pay with Smile at our Bloomsbury, Soho and Chelsea cafes before we roll out across all 12 of our cafes later this year.”

Revolut said it is offering 0% processing fees on Revolut Pay with Smile transactions, which it said will help ease burdens on independent venues.