A British supermarket Costcutter located at Brunel University in London is testing out a new cash-free biometric payment system. This technology uses the unique aspects of a customers’ body tissue and lets them pay for groceries using the vein pattern in their fingers.

The biometric payment system – denoted as Fingopay – was designed by the Sthaler company. The firm is convinced that the vein technology is the most secure biometric identification method as it cannot be copied or stolen. A spokesperson for Sthaler explains that the method can be used for multiple bank accounts, allocating different fingers with different bank accounts. There is also no need to remember any PIN codes, and to carry cash, or credit cards.
The company confirms that dozens of Brunel University students are already using its technology, and it hopes to have signed up 3,000 students out of 13,000 by November.

Sthaler believes that the new technology can be also successfully utilized at nightclubs or gyms to verify membership and even to check if people have the right access to VIP hospitality areas.

Nick Telford-Reed, director of technology innovation at Worldpay UK, said: "In our view, finger vein technology has a number of advantages over fingerprint. This deployment of Fingopay in Costcutter branches demonstrates how consumers increasingly want to see their payment methods secure and simple."