Key Points
Biometric payment turnover reaches 28 billion rubles in early 2025
Smile Payment service gains massive popularity across Russia
25-44 age group dominates biometric payment usage
The report by Sber Bank showed that the total turnover of payments using biometric technology amounted to 28 billion rubles ($331 million).
This result significantly exceeds the total number of transactions for the entire year 2024, which amounted to 26 million.
Further, the report showed that the number of terminals across the country has exceeded 1 million.
The terminal network covers the entire territory of Russia, including remote regions.
Notably, the Smile Payment service, available throughout the country, continues to gain popularity, with Moscow and St. Petersburg remaining the key leading cities.
Other million-plus cities like Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm stand out among the regions.
Russians have already made more than 35 million payments with Smile in the first quarter of 2025, said the report.
"Russia has become the first country in the world where payment using biometrics has become widespread. The service is available to any citizen over the age of 18 throughout the country, including the affiliated regions," said Dmitry Malykh, senior vice president and the head of the transactional banking unit of Sber.
"The number of transactions for the first quarter of 2025 has already exceeded the figures for the entire last year. This indicates the transition from the initial phase of the introduction of innovative technology to the stage of active adoption by the general public – the 'innovators' were joined by 'early adopters'," Malykh added.
Malykh noted that it usually takes 3-4 years to complete the development cycle of such services, but the technology was launched in the summer of 2023.
An analysis of age groups shows that the main users of the service are people aged 25 to 44 (56 per cent). This is followed by customers aged 45 to 64 (31 per cent).
The age categories 22-24 years old and over 65 years old make up 5 per cent of the total number of users.
Only 3 per cent of citizens between the ages of 18 and 21 resort to paying using biometrics, the report said.
Comments:
This is fascinating! I wonder how long until we see this level of biometric adoption in other countries. The convenience factor seems huge, though I'd be curious about security measures in place. 🔒
Impressive numbers! 35 million payments in just one quarter shows how quickly people are adapting. Though I'm surprised the 18-21 age group isn't using it more - you'd think digital natives would be all over this.
While the technology is impressive, I have concerns about privacy. Once biometric data is compromised, you can't change your face or fingerprints like you can a password. The article doesn't mention what safeguards are in place.
Russia beating everyone to this is surprising! 😲 The coverage in remote regions is particularly impressive. Wonder if this will push other countries to accelerate their own biometric payment systems.
The age distribution is interesting - shows this isn't just a young person's tech. My parents would probably love not having to remember passwords! Though I hope they have good fraud protection systems.
The speed of adoption is remarkable - from launch in 2023 to nationwide coverage now. Would love to see a comparison with other payment innovations like contactless cards to see how this stacks up in terms of adoption curves.
