Russians have become four times more likely to pay using biometrics

The number of transactions using biometric data has exceeded 130 million since the beginning of 2025, which is four times more than in the entire period last year. This is evidenced by the data of Sber for nine months, which was reviewed by Izvestia.

According to these calculations, the turnover of bioequaring in Sberbank increased 5.5 times and exceeded 116 billion rubles. At the same time, in 2024, the turnover was 21 billion rubles. According to the Central Bank, the number of payments reached 100 million in the first half of this year.

Since 2023, for the entire period of operation of the Smile Payment service, 4.4 million users have registered in the biometric system of Sbera. This year, there are 169% more people willing to pay for purchases using biometrics compared to last year's figures — more than 3.3 million more people have joined the service.

"Russia is the first country in the world to bring biometric payments to a massive level and make them a daily routine. Smile Payment is already available at 1.3 million terminals across the country, and by 2026 there will be 2 million of them," said Kirill Tsarev, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank.

According to the study, Muscovites most often pay with a smile — they accounted for 7.7% of the service's users. Another 3.8% pay for biometrics purchases in St. Petersburg. The average age of the clients who opted for bioequaring is 43 years.

Biometrics Rules: 18+ items can be paid by person as early as October.

Where can I buy alcohol, tobacco, and energy drinks without a passport

On August 29, the Central Bank of Russia announced an increase in the popularity of payments using biometrics and QR codes. It was clarified that in the second quarter of 2025, bioequaring was used 60 million times. The volume of payments, in turn, amounted to 45 billion rubles.

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