Visa and Neon in pay-by-selfie initiative

Visa and Brazilian mobile-only bank, Neon, have launched a service that allows consumers to use selfies to confirm their identities for online purchases. “Authentication of identity by facial recognition, which has been in use for almost a year by the 100% digital bank’s customers for their transactions, will now be applied to internet purchases with a 99.5%  ID precision,” says Fernando Teles, General Director at Visa Brasil.

Neon is targeting Millennials and using Daon’s IdentityX platform for biometric authentication. Customers can use facial recognition to access their account and perform such transactions as payments, via Visa-branded physical and virtual cards. The new entrant is pitched as a reaction against brick and mortar banking turn offs, including long lines, bureaucracy and hidden fees. It is a spin off from Contro.ly, a FinTech founded in 2014 and its goal is to reach 100,000 active customers in its first year of operation.

“My distaste with the traditional banking model started after a disastrous experience during international travel where my bank didn’t bother to help me through a tough situation. It was then that I realised I was just another number to them,” says Neon boss Pedro Conrade. “We are a bank founded by young people conceived for a new generation of banking customers. Our focus is to encourage sound financial planning and education to ensure that the youth of this country will not start their lives in debt.”