Visa, one of the world-leading digital payment service providers has partnered with PopID, a consumer authentication service provider to facilitate facial verification payment in the Middle East region. This is to provide a more secure, safe, and innovative way for cardholders to make payments with ease. This good news has been met with warm welcomes in the region as a whole.

According to reports, Costa Cofee, MMI, and grocery chain Géant would be the first businesses to adopt PopID’s facial biometric payment solution, a subsidiary product of PopPay.  Other markets that would follow in adopting this technology include Coca-Cola Arena Dubai and Cove Beach at Caesars Palace Dubai. These businesses are both held under the portfolio of Dubai Holding, UAE’s widely popular diversified global investment company with headquarters domiciled in Dubai.

In addition to this new development, PopID also recently signed an agreement with Dubai Holding in a bid to establish a joint venture that would facilitate rolling out PopPay in MENA and CEE regions. This involves Dubai Holding deploying PopPay at some of its assets across specific locations of attraction at the initial stage of the partnership. Beyond that, the payment system would be adopted on a wider scale across Dubai Holding’s ecosystem throughout MENA and CEE regions.

Akshay Chopra, Head of Vias CEMEA Innovation and Design added in a comment "Facial biometric payments are at the forefront of payments innovation, providing cardholders a fast, seamless, and most importantly, secure way to authenticate and make a payment”

"From across our partner network, we've seen heightened interest in co-creating new facial and biometric payments moments. Through this partnership with PopPay, we are keen to help clients roll out biometric payment capabilities faster and with more success."

In subsequent times, issuing banks would be invited to join the platform under the alliance with Visa and provide their customers with an opportunity to link their facial biometrics with their debits and credit cards. Also, acquiring banks would be offered an avenue to distribute PopID’s face pay terminals to brick and mortar businesses in their regions.

"We expect face pay to become the global standard for payments, and we are determined to make PopPay the consumer brand that is used and trusted by people all over the world," said John Miller, CEO of PopID. 

PopPay is looking to further scale across the Middle East region throughout the rest of 2022 primarily through a partnership with key merchants to provide the payment service to consumers. This strategic international deployment move follows the launch of PopPay Japan with a subsidiary of SoftBank Corp through a joint venture.

Source: PopID