Biometric payments offer a convenient, secure way to make purchases. JPMorgan is testing the technology – which Goode Intelligence expects to account for nearly $6 trillion in transactions by 2026 – as a means of staying ahead of the payments revolution.

For years, financial institutions have allowed users to sign into their smartphone apps with facial recognition or a fingerprint. Now, JPMorgan is taking that vision of a cardless, passwordless future one step further into brick-and-mortar retail.  

Soon, the bank will enable merchants to offer customers the ability to pay for goods and services in-store using palm or face identification.  

JPMorgan’s “commerce solutions” division is launching its test run with brick-and-mortar establishments in the US this year, including Formula 1 race Miami Grand Prix. It’s deploying a combination of in-house technology and partnerships to launch the pilot and, if successful, plans to use its initial learnings to launch the service more broadly in 2024.  

Biometric payments are seen as a frictionless, efficient option for customers to buy things – after all, there’s also no risk of leaving your payments method at home. 

“At its heart, biometrics-based payments empowers our merchant clients to deliver a better customer payment experience,” according to JPMorgan’s head of omnichannel solutions, Jean-Marc Thienpont.    

Similarly, Amazon and sandwich chain Panera just announced their own pilot for palm-scanning payments initiatives.