NEC partners Sumitomo Mitsui to trial cashless payments using biometrics

The Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) tests take place between December 12, 2016 and January 30, 2017, and are involving approximately 1,000 employees at the dining facilities of SMBCs head office. Also, the Sumitomo Mitsui Card trials take place between November 21, 2016 and January 31, 2017, and involve approximately 400 employees at the companys Tokyo head office.

The service being trialled in these tests utilizes NECs NeoFace facial recognition engine, to enable identity verification by matching employees pre-registered facial images against the images taken by cameras installed in the employee dining facilities. Payment for items purchased is automatically deducted from employees monthly salaries for the following month.

Furthermore, this facial recognition has the unique characteristic of not requiring the installation of dedicated authentication devices, and offers enhanced security due to the fact that registered facial data is stored in the form of numerical values.

In these trials, NEC, SMBC and Sumitomo Mitsui Card aim to verify the recognition performance, employee receptivity to biometric authentication, and operational aspects of the service.