Aevi, a payments orchestration company, has published new research showing that more than half of UK consumers remain cautious about biometric payments because of concerns over how their data is handled.
The study, which surveyed 3,000 adults across the UK and US, found that 52% of UK respondents said privacy and potential misuse of data by private companies would make them hesitant to adopt biometric payments, while 32% pointed to worries about government access or surveillance.
In the US, concern over government access was notably higher, at 44%.
The research also uncovered a sharp generational split in trust levels. Among 25- to 34-year-olds, 80% said they trust companies to safeguard their biometric data, but that figure drops to 56% for those aged 35 to 44, and falls further to 32% among 45- to 54-year-olds. Trust remains at a similarly low level through to retirement age, with only 29% of over-65s expressing confidence in how their data would be protected.
Familiarity with the technology follows a similar pattern by age. Almost all younger UK adults aged 25 to 34 (97%) said they were aware of biometric payments, compared with just 51% of those over 65. Older consumers were also far more likely to question the value of the technology altogether, with half of over-65s saying biometric payments provide no clear advantage over the payment methods they already use, against only 8% of 25- to 34-year-olds who felt the same way.
Rather than dismissing the technology, the research suggests UK consumers are broadly open to biometric payments but want clearer guarantees about the handling of their data before adopting it more widely.
Aevi CEO Mike Camerling said, “As we’ve seen across our more recent consumer research, whether it’s about agentic commerce to digital currencies in in-person payments, control and trust remain consistent pressure points. Biometrics lands firmly within that same pattern. The technology itself might not be the barrier, but how it’s understood clearly is…how transparently it operates, and how much control people feel they retain.”
One UK respondent said, “I think it would have to be regulated and proven to be trustworthy before I use it.”
Another added, “If the data is guaranteed to be stored locally and in an encrypted format and not uploaded to servers, I would be more reassured.”
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