Revolut launches POS terminal with facial recognition and "Pay with Smile"

Revolut has unveiled the so-called Revolut Register, a point-of-sale system intended to expand adoption of Pay with Smile, the company's facial recognition payment system. Revolut Register includes a camera for biometric payments, along with a tablet and a main touchscreen. The tablet allows staff to take payments away from the checkout counter. Multiple units can also be linked together.

Payment support has some notable limitations. Only Visa, Mastercard and American Express are accepted, including through Google Pay and Apple Pay where those cards can be added. Regional card networks are not currently supported. Some international credit and debit card networks are also missing, including UnionPay, whose cards are also issued in Germany, and JCB. JCB, however, withdrew from Europe a few years ago.

The system will initially launch in the UK. Like Spain, the country often serves as a launch market for new products and services. The hardware costs around £700 before tax, with no activation fee or monthly device charges. Transaction fees still apply, although Revolut currently charges nothing for Pay with Smile payments. Merchants therefore have a financial incentive to encourage customers to use the biometric payment system.

For supported cards issued in the UK, Revolut charges 0.8% of the transaction value plus a fixed fee of £0.02. International cards incur a considerably higher fee of 2.6% plus £0.02. Merchants also need to pay for a Revolut Business account.