Manchester bar to introduce finger vein biometrics for payments, age verification and Covid-19 contact tracing • NFCW

The Alchemist^[4], a busy cocktail bar and restaurant in the UK city of Manchester, is to roll out a new service that uses finger vein biometrics to provide a combined payments, age verification and permission-based contact tracing service that removes the need for customers to carry a physical ID card.

The service, developed by FinGo^[5], “utilises each user’s unique vein pattern to enable secure, identity-enabled transactions, including payments,” the UK startup says.

“FinGo was given the go ahead to be used for age verification by Manchester City Council, making it the first city in the world to introduce the technology for this purpose,” it adds.

“It also includes the ability to capture and store user’s contact details securely, with their permission, which can be activated as part of test and trace efforts.

“In the case of an outbreak, an establishment operating FinGoID will be able to quickly contact customers or seamlessly supply this information to the government’s Test and Trace teams.”

“As we reopen for business, like so many others in the industry, we are facing a multitude of new challenges,” says Jenny McPhee, brand director at The