Sber and NSPK will unite face-to-face payment services in the second half of 2025

A unified service for biometric payments from the largest market players will appear in Russia, Izvestia has found out. The launch of cross-bio-acquiring from the largest bank (Sber) and the operator of "Mir" cards (National Payment Card System - NPCS) is planned for the second half of 2025.

"The roadmap for the project has already been developed and the launch is planned for the second half of the year. We are developing a biometric payment standard, based on which other market participants will be able to launch their biometric services," said Dmitry Malykh, senior vice president of Sber.

The NSPK told Izvestia that the organizations are already working on uniting biometric payment services, and in the second half of 2025 Sber will connect to NSPK bioacquiring, which will be an important step towards the development of this payment method.

Currently, to connect to the face-to-face payment service, a client needs to register his or her data in the Unified Biometric System (UBS) via the "Gosuservices Biometrics" application or at bank branches. After the data is linked to the system of "Sber" or NSPK respectively, and then the card of any credit organization can be attached to it - money will be deducted from it.

Nevertheless, there are a number of difficulties now. First, now it is possible to use only Sber and NSPK applications. After the launch of the united system, customers will be able to use the mobile application of any bank connected to it, where they will be able to customize payments and track payment history.

Secondly, now the systems work on different infrastructures - that is, those who use the NSPK application cannot pay through Sber's terminals. And it is they who now have the most devices with face-to-face payment acceptance. As "Izvestia" wrote earlier, by 2026 Sberbank will re-equip 2 million of its terminals to transfer money with one smile - thanks to this new functionality will get every second device on the market.

The launch of a unified bio-acquiring system will solve this problem and, in fact, unite the efforts of all market players to develop infrastructure for a new type of payment. Other players are also planning to join the process: almost all of VTB's new equipment will be able to accept biometric payments, and Alfa Bank will replace a quarter of its devices with the latest models in the near future, said representatives of the organizations.

Read more in the exclusive material of "Izvestia":

It is necessary to watch: a unified face payment service will be created in the Russian Federation