Since Emirates Airlines is owned by the UAE government, the airline reportedly partners with the government to link a passenger’s iris to a national facial recognition database.

Mastercard will bring FinGo’s vein-scanning payments solution to more markets, and Visa is working on a biometric authentication solution for online transactions with the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank.

For example, in April, the card network announced two developments in the Middle East: It added HSBC UAE to its Track Business Program and partnered with the Central Bank of Iraq to digitize the country’s payment system. The Middle East is ripe for digital payments growth, so these initiatives could be a valuable growth opportunity for the card network.

We launched in Boots [in the UK] and we have expanded into UAE. We'll be moving into Southeast Asia in 2022. Right now our focus is on the UK because we're seeing such a strong response to our business.