[Yonhap Photo]
The credit card subsidiary of South Korea's Lotte Group opened a new era in off-line store payment Tuesday, using palm vein patterns for biometric authentication at a smart convenience store in the group's new tower.
The first commercial use of a new payment system called "BioPay" was introduced at the 7-Eleven Signature store on the 31st floor of the Lotte World Tower, a new 123-story shopping and living tower complex in southern Seoul, that opened on April 3 as South Korea's new high-rise landmark.
Lotte Card Co. said its clients could enter the store only after storing biometric data about their palms in advance. They need no cash or plastic card to shop at the intelligent store equipped with palm vein scanners and an automated and unmanned checkout counter.
The company said the new payment system would be expanded gradually to 7-Eleven stores, Lotte outlets and department stores affiliated with the country's fifth largest conglomerate. Encrypted information about the palm vein patterns of credit card clients would be transformed into random numbers for safe storage, scanning and recognition.
BioPay is still a pilot project pushed by the Financial Services Commission, a state financial watchdog. Like other biometric authentication technologies using iris and voice recognition, it does not need plastic cards. It is also effective in detecting any attempt to tamper with payment processes.
For safe and convenient financial transactions, the commission has urged credit card firms and financial institutions to introduce new technology for identification.
In April, Woori Bank became the first to introduce the iris scanner, used by Samsung Electronics for its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S8, in mobile banking. Fingerprint scanners are widely used at banks and state bodies to check identify, but mobile payment requires hack-proof solutions to ensure safe and convenient financial transactions.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
