{"id":13839,"date":"2025-10-12T07:51:55","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T14:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=13839"},"modified":"2025-10-12T07:51:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T14:51:55","slug":"russian-banks-unveil-pay-with-your-palm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/12\/russian-banks-unveil-pay-with-your-palm\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Banks Unveil \u201cPay With Your Palm\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This sounds similar to what Amazon was trying to implement with Whole Foods which I believe has been available for quite a while. I’d be suspicious of the security surrounding this biometric data which has got to be turned into a hash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/edwardslavsquat.substack.com\/p\/russian-banks-unveil-pay-with-your<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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Not to be confused with “pay with a smile”<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Edward Slavsquat<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image credit: VTB Bank press service<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Last week, Russian government officials and representatives from fintech firms gathered for the annual Finopolis forum to discuss the future of Russian finance and banking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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source: https:\/\/finopolis.ru\/en<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The conference was held in the Sirius Federal Territory, located outside of Sochi, which operates under an \u201cexperimental legal regime\u201d<\/a>, allowing the municipality to implement \u201cprojects that serve as models for Russian regions\u201d<\/a>. Thanks to its special status, Sirius has plans to fast-track<\/a> the use of robots, artificial intelligence, biometric technologies, and the digital ruble in shops and restaurants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s perhaps no surprise then that Russia\u2019s fintech leaders met in Sirius\u2014described<\/a> as \u201cthe future of the country\u201d\u2014to announce their latest breakthrough:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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source: tass.ru<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the introduction of a biometric palm-payment system, Yulia Kopytova, a senior vice president at VTB Bank, said<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The technology of human identification using a person\u2019s palm is already operating in other countries, for example, in China. Modern payment solutions are increasingly making the need to constantly carry not only cash or a card, but also a smartphone or other device, obsolete.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authentication by biometric data allows you to make payments literally on the go: in public transport or in a coffee shop. The new option of accepting payment by palm is the next phase in the development of the payment market and bio-acquisition, another step towards improving the convenience and speed of service in various areas of trade and services.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Kommersant provided further details<\/a> about this new payment method:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is planned that in the future the palm will be added to the list of approved [biometric] options, which can be registered centrally together with the image of one\u2019s face or a voice sample. The consumer will be able to choose the method of authentication or identification when making a payment or verifying his or her age. When adopting changes in a number of regulations, the original samples of the [palm] vein pattern will be stored in the Unified Biometric System (UBS)<\/a> \u2026 This will ensure the safe use of the palm in biometric services.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Not to be outdone, Russia\u2019s largest bank, Sber, announced<\/a> its own roadmap for implementing palm-payments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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source: tass.ru<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sber began experimenting with this technology a decade ago. In 2015, the bank launched<\/a> a pilot program, Ladoshki (\u201cLittle Palms\u201d), that allowed schoolchildren to use biometrics to purchase meals: \u201cTo pay for lunch, the student puts his hand to the scanner on a special machine, selects a dish from the menu, and the money is automatically debited from the account attached to the biometrics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sber\u2019s \u201cLittle Palms\u201d biometric payment system for school meals.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the summer of 2023, Sber introduced<\/a> \u201cPay with a Smile,\u201d a biometric payment system that uses facial recognition to debit a user\u2019s bank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the technology has been slowly but steadily integrated into Russian commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sber celebrated World Smile Day, held on the first Friday of October, with the goal<\/a> of \u201cdevoting a day to smiles and spreading random acts of kindness\u201d, by releasing new figures on Pay with a Smile\u2019s adoption<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On World Smile Day, which is celebrated in 2025 on October 3, Sber calculated the number of purchases using the \u201cPay with a Smile\u201d service in the Northwestern Federal District [a federal district with a combined population of 13.6 million, with St. Petersburg as its administrative center]. In the first nine months of this year, residents of the District made 17.7 million payments using biometrics. This is 8 times more than in the same period last year.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leader of Pay with a Smile transactions is St. Petersburg (almost 6 million payments worth more than 5.2 billion rubles) and the Leningrad region (almost 2 million transactions totaling 1.5 billion rubles).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The District currently has 93,000 terminals that support \u201cPay with a Smile\u201d technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Although users of the technology remain in the minority, the infrastructure for transitioning to biometric payment is already in place. The bank announced<\/a> at the end of 2024 that it had already installed 1 million terminals across Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSeveral years ago the smartphone became the key to many services. And thanks to our technologies payments have transformed into a natural and instant gesture without the need to use a phone. Paying with a smile is part of a larger journey toward comfortable adoption of digital services, where they simplify rather than complicate life,\u201d Sber said<\/a> in an October 3 press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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