Japanese firm unveils fingerprint payments in Indonesia

Japanese tech company Liquid has launched a biometric payments service in Indonesia that operates at the point of sale.

Currently the project is being tested at an enterprise level, with the service offered to the Salim group’s workforce of around 500,000.

“We are looking forward to developing the next generation payment and business platform in Indonesia, which will contribute to changing people’s lifestyle and have a big business impact in Indonesia,” said Yasuhiro Kuda, CEO of Tokyo-based Liquid.

Users of the service need to register their fingerprints and deposit money in advance. They can complete payments within three seconds with the system’s fingerprint readers, which have an error rate of one in a trillion, according to Liquid.

The company will start registering users’ fingerprints this month and start installing fingerprint readers later this year at stores run by Salim, whose businesses range from food and car sales to convenience store operations.

Liquid is currently providing such fingerprint payment services to tens of thousands users in some cities in Japan.

The company is aiming to expand the business in Indonesia, counting on the economic growth of the most populous country in Southeast Asia.