The international credit card giant VISA recently announced what they are calling a “new of era payments,” by presenting palm-reading terminals to facilitate transactions, among major innovations for the firm.

The next generation technology was unveiled on February 22nd in Singapore, on the same day the company officially launched the Singapore Innovation Center, a new hub for VISA in the Asia Pacific region, allowing for them to work clients there more easily and work on new innovations for the company.

VISA provided a brief description on their “pay-by-palm” technology:

Speed and convenience of biometric payments: Pay-by-palm is the next-generation payment technology that uses unique palm signatures for identity verification, a significant leap from the widely used fingerprint and facial recognition systems of today.

Visitors to the innovation center can experience hovering their palm over a reader, linking their unique signature to their payment card for a transaction. While still in early adoption stages, it’s already making waves in urban mobility in China and the retail sector in the United States. But it’s not just about convenience. Using Gen AI to analyze anonymized biometric and payment data, businesses can also gain valuable insights for personalized recommendations.

HardwareZone.com was present at the opening of the facility and where to get a sneak preview into the technology.

Kunal Chatterjee, Head of Innovation at Visa Asia Pacific, said in a statement at the event:

The future of biometric payments is promising and is set to revolutionize the retail experience. Biometrics has the potential to enable retailers to offer a more personalized and secure shopping experience. It simplifies the checkout process by using fingerprint and facial recognition, thereby reducing wait times, and eliminating the need for traditional payment methods. This not only enhances the customer experience but also increases efficiency. Furthermore, biometrics enhance security by ensuring only authorized personnel can access sensitive information…