Soon, across the UAE, you could make payments at stores by simply hovering your palm in front of machines. This means no more swiping cards or phones at cash counters after shopping.
“The rollout of Palm Pay technology is planned to happen gradually throughout 2024,” said Abdallah Abu Sheikh, founder of the technology development group Astra Tech, speaking to Khaleej Times. The company introduced this payment solution through its fintech subsidiary PayBy at the Dubai Fintech Summit.
Palm Pay is a contactless palm recognition service that enables payments using biometric authentication. Payment machines will read customers’ palm prints to authenticate transactions.
“We currently have a certain number of machines for testing within the local market infrastructure, ensuring readiness for scaling to over 50,000 PayBy merchants throughout the year,” Sheikh stated. “We’re finalizing details to ensure a seamless rollout this year.”
The company is exploring integrating the technology with banks in the future, allowing users to directly link their accounts with it.
How customers can sign up The technology will be free for users. “In the first phase, users can register through the device itself at the point of sale. In the future, the palm authentication process will be integrated into apps like PayBy and Botim, allowing customers to easily update their accounts with their palm prints through an authentication feature on their phone, similar to how facial recognition works today.”
“They will then be able to use Palm Pay technology for payments by waving their palms at all merchants that adopt this innovative technology, providing immediate access and convenience,” added Sheikh.
The company emphasized that the technology is a more secure alternative to traditional card payments and other methods.
Integration Another key feature is the technology’s integration with existing point of sale systems.
“Merchants interested in being early adopters can contact their account managers to sign up and express their interest in receiving the technology.”
According to Sheikh, the technology is not limited to specific sectors. It holds strong potential and scalability.
“However, we recognize the tremendous potential for Palm Pay in sectors with high customer traffic, such as the retail sector,” he said.
It is a cost-effective solution for merchants and promotes financial inclusion for the unbanked population, the company added.
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