# Bringing Biometric Checkout to Life
source: https://developer.mastercard.com/blog/biometric-checkout/index.md

Authors: Qing Cao. Background Officially launched in May 2022, Mastercard's Biometric Checkout Program is industry's first of its kind innovation that sets the standards, specifications, and certification processes for how payments ecosystem partners can responsibly develop frictionless "biometrics only" checkout solutions that meet the highest levels of security, privacy, and customer experience. Globally, 74% of consumers have a positive attitude towards biometric technology\[1\] and the market for contactless biometrics technology is projected to reach $18.6 billion by 2026\[2\]. Mastercard's Biometric Checkout program is a direct response to the evolving needs of cardholders around the world. The pandemic propelled consumers to rapidly embraced new ways to pay. Around the globe, merchants are starting to offer consumers innovative experience to pay and stay engaged in store. With biometric checkout, biometrics become the new payment form factor, a consumer can smile or wave to pay, without the need of a card or mobile anymore. How does biometric checkout work? In Biometric Checkout, consumers enroll their payment credentials and biometrics (face or palm) either in store or at home through a merchant or biometrics provider app. At checkout, all they do is wave their hand over a reader or smile into the camera to complete the purchase. Behind the scenes, when consumers scan their biometric, it is matched against enrolled users to confirm their identity. Once matched, the merchant processes the transaction using the consumer's tokenized payment credential, with the issuer's approval. What are the key components of the Biometric Checkout Program? Mastercard supports the responsible development of biometrics point of sale solutions through this Global Program with the following key components: A collaboration framework - Allows biometric service providers to collaborate with our financial institutions, merchants, acquirers, and digital partners to develop, test, and deploy safe and secure biometric checkout solutions, and other in-store Point of Interactions. Ensure the integrity of the solutions by accreditation processes that the Program participants must go thru, for example in-depth security and biometric performance testing, privacy by design, PCI-DSS compliance, and other requirements. Ensure an enhanced, frictionless experience by leveraging relevant Mastercard assets (tokenization, gateway, authentication, dispute, loyalty, etc.) to make each biometric payment experience seamless and secure. How are we rolling this out globally? We are partnering with large and small tech companies globally that are innovating in this emerging space, including Payface, Aurus, PaybyFace, NEC, PopID and Fujitsu Limited, to trial the experience. We were so thrilled to launch our first pilot in Brazil with Payface, a fintech specializing in facial payments at physical retailers. Started in May 20022, the pilot will run for three months at five St. Marche stores, an upscale supermarket chain in São Paolo. We're also exploring pilots with technology providers in EEMEA and AP. What is Mastercard's data protection role in the context of Biometric Checkout? Mastercard does not collect nor process personal data as part of the Mastercard Biometric Checkout Program. Our guidelines set the same stringent certification requirements in end-to-end security, biometrics performance and privacy, similar to we have done before with EMV, tokenization and "selfie pay" on-device biometrics. The program is also governed by our Principles for Data Responsibility, which establish a core set of principles guiding the ethical collection, management and use of data. What's next \| Working with Mastercard on Biometrics Innovation Biometric Checkout is our next step in supporting the evolution of payments, alongside a suite of recent innovations, such as Shop Anywhere, Enhanced Contactless (ECOS) and Cloud Point of Sale, which have been rolled out to provide consumers and merchants with frictionless, flexible and secure in-store experiences. The ecosystem for Biometric Checkout is still emerging and there are many opportunities for Mastercard to lead in this space. Today, there is no established way for the POS provider and the identity provider to work together seamlessly, which has resulted in many ad hoc proprietary and closed loop solutions. There's more to come from us here as we look to help address fragmentation, build more trust through value-added identity, fraud protection and consumer controls, and enable an open biometric checkout ecosystem.