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| A customer uses Shinhan Card's facial recognition service at an affiliate store in Seoul. / Courtesy of Shinhan Card |
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Shinhan Card is set to introduce a facial recognition service through which cardholders can pay without a credit card or smartphone app, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), Thursday.
The FSC introduced 11 innovative sandbox services in a press release, and among them Shinhan Card's facial recognition payment service is expected to be introduced next month.
Once Shinhan Card cardholders register their various facial features via a 3D-sensing camera with the credit card firm's certification management center, they can pay by simply allowing a camera to scan their faces at any affiliate stores.
Shinhan Card said the facial recognition service is only available on Hanyang University campus for now but will be introduced nationwide in the near future.
The FSC also introduced the Korea Credit Bureau's (KCB) anti-voice-phishing wire transfer service in its press release.
The KCB's anti-voice-phishing wire transfer service automatically checks the recipient's bank account and phone number that the remitter enters. If the numbers do not match, the service automatically sends an alarm to the remitter.
DGB Daegu Bank is also set to introduce a new foreign exchange service where customers do not need to visit banks when they visit a foreign country.
Under its partnership with domestic airliners, customers can apply for foreign exchange when they book a flight ticket via the airline's app. The airline will hand over the cash to customers when they check in at an airport.
The service is expected to be available by next April.
The nation's fintech firms have been able to develop various financial services without regulatory hurdles since last year. Selected firms using new technologies, such as blockchain and big data, are exempted from tight regulations.
In a bid to encourage fintech development, the FSC has so far designated 53 innovative financial services for its regulatory sandbox.
"The FSC aims at designating 100 innovative fintech services for the regulatory sandbox by next March," an FSC official said.





































