Shinhan Card said Thursday it has launched a facial recognition-based payment system that replaces the use of plastic cards for purchases.

Branded as Shinhan Face Pay, the new payment system is the first service of its kind here, the local credit card issuer said.

To authorize payment, customers take a photo of their faces and a kiosk then matches their facial information with the one registered in advance at Shinhan Bank’s local branches.

“As long as customers register their photo as well as credit card information on the digital kiosk at Shinhan’s banking branches, face recognition kiosks at local stores will automatically identify them,” said a PR manager at Shinhan Card. “We started the service today at Hanyang University in Seoul and 16 CU stores around the campus.”

Earlier, Shinhan Card partnered with BGF Retail, operator of CU convenience store chain, to introduce the new system at universities and on-site CU store locations.

By Choi Jae-hee (cjh@heraldcorp.com)