Revolut starts facial payment trial at London cafés

Revolut has begun a London trial of Pay with Smile, an opt-in facial-recognition checkout that lets customers authorize in-store payments without presenting a phone or card. The trial is scheduled to run from September 24 to 26 at three Kiss the Hippo cafés in Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho. The service operates through Revolut Register terminals. Customers select Pay with Smile at checkout, and the system compares a scan of their face with identity information, including the selfie used during Revolut account verification. If the identities match, the payment is authorized from the customer’s Revolut account. Revolut says customers must turn on the feature in the app and can withdraw consent. The company also says facial data is encrypted end to end and that merchants do not store customers’ personal data. The reports provide no independent technical assessment of those security claims. The launch has drawn concern from privacy campaigners. Jack Coulson, head of advocacy at Big Brother Watch, warned that biometric information could be misused and argued that users bear risks if such data is compromised.