Biometric technology from Toronto-based Applied Recognition is now being used to verify individuals signing up for SmartPay, a mobile-based financial services platform operating in Vietnam.

The integration of Applied Recognition’s Ver-ID facial recognition technology means that end users can confirm their identities simply by submitting a selfie photo through the platform. At the same time, a liveness detection feature helps to ensure that fraudsters can’t spoof the biometric system.

Commenting on the integration in a statement, Applied Recognition Co-CEO Ray Ganong lauded the SmartPay platform, saying it’s “among the most sophisticated and the fastest-growing financial services platforms in Southeast Asia,” and adding that it is sometimes called “The PayPal of Vietnam”.

“It’s a unique model and we’re looking forward to helping them continue to fulfill their vision,” he said.

Meanwhile, Duy Huynh, the Deputy CTO of Intelligent Network Service and Trading Company, which operates SmartPay, pointed to the growth of selfie-based authentication. “Face recognition is clearly emerging as the core biometric technology and so should be directly integrated into business processes to create the best user experiences and to realize the full benefit of the technology,” he said. Huynh also lauded Applied Recognition for its technology in particular, and for its “willingness and ability to work closely with our development team, adapting and helping to integrate their technology into our architecture.”

(Originally posted on FindBiometrics)