Revolut has announced the initial rollout of Revolut Pay with Smile, the UK’s first facial recognition checkout system.

Revolut customers can use to pay for items without a need for their card or phone after opting in to Pay with Smile via the Revolut app. The new service will operate at checkouts by comparing a customer’s face with the selfie ID check they uploaded when they first signed up for Revolut, and which they use whenever the app authorises a payment.

Customer purchases made with Pay with Smile carry no processing fees for merchants, who will be able to offer the checkout option via Revolut’s new point of sale (POS) system, Revolut Register.

The POS comprises a two-screen register powered by an internal eSIM and is intended to unify payments with banking and floor operations, per the bank. The touch screen on the front of the system can be detached to be taken to customers where they are sat and Revolut told Retail Systems that in the future it could be used standalone.

Each payment made with Pay with Smile will also earn customers triple RevPoints, Revolut’s internal reward points which can be exchanged for benefits such as item discounts, air miles or hotel stays.

Revolut said the system is compliant with UK GDPR, with data encrypted end-to-end and never stored by participating merchants. Payments over £200 made using the system will prompt customers to verify their identity via a second authentication method such as an in-app push notification or their Revolut Pay passcode.

The bank said Revolut Register and Pay with Smile will combine to give customers and merchants a more consistent payments experience, citing research it commissioned that found payment terminal outages cost businesses an average of £2,495 in direct lost revenue each year.

The same research found that independent businesses spend an average of £875 on payments processing and hardware costs, with pubs and bars paying an average of £950.

The research, carried out by Censuswide, took in responses from 2,000 nationally representative UK consumers and 1,000 UK independent hospitality business owners.

At a special event held at specialty coffee shop Kiss the Hippo Bloomsbury, Alex Codina, general manager of merchant payments at Revolut, said: “There's still an underlying concern in the merchant space, particularly in small and medium-sized businesses, with reliability of payment infrastructure,” adding that this and processing costs are “unacceptable”.

Codina added that the move into hardware is part of a “broader push” that has seen Revolut Business succeed in travel and technology startups.

“Now we are seeing the hospitality vertical as the next one to really double down on,” he said.

Kiss the Hippo has exclusive access to Pay with Smile in its initial rollout, with the new offering coming to its Bloomsbury, Chelsea and Soho stores. Merchants can sign up now, with Revolut targeting a wider rollout later this year.

At the event Maya Zara, creative director at Kiss the Hippo, told attendees that it was rare to see technology like this reach an independent business before a national chain and that it has potential keep transactions smooth during busy periods.

“We serve a lot of commuters, they’re busy Londoners and especially during morning hours speed and flow really matter,” she said.

Alex Damgaci, managing director at Kiss the Hippo, said: “In hospitality, a seamless checkout is no longer a luxury, it's the bare minimum. Technology that takes the friction out of the payment process and offers payment flexibility gives operators the reliability they need to protect revenue and maintain guest satisfaction.

“To mark the launch, we've put together a special menu for the three days, and we're looking forward to welcoming guests to try Pay with Smile at our Bloomsbury, Soho and Chelsea cafés before we roll out across all 12 of our cafés later this year."

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