Wahda Bank announced yesterday that it will be introducing soon “Edei”, the first palm-scan payment service in Libya.

It said this comes as part of its pursuit of supporting digital transformation and providing advanced electronic payment solutions.

The bank explained that customers need only and simply hover their hand over the payment device to complete their transactions securely and quickly, without any additional tools.

It stressed that customers would need no card, phone, service numbers, verification codes, apps, or an internet service. 

It said the customer’s hand does not even have to contact the payment devices.

It stressed that the new payment method comes with the highest levels of biometric security, explaining that customers’ hands are directly linked to their account.

No law currently exists for banks to store customer biometric data

It will be recalled, however, that while Wahda bank has branches across Libya, it is headquartered in eastern Libya and comes under the de facto control of the Benghazi based Libyan government and the influence of the Hafter family.

Eastern-headquartered banks are less compliant to the Tripoli CBL

In effect, this means that while de jure all banks operating in Libya come under the control of the Tripoli based Central Bank of Libya (CBL), in reality, it is a widely known fact that the eastern headquartered banks operate with much more loose compliance with CBL regulations. This includes granting loans to Hafter controlled entities.

Libyan banking sources have pointed out to Libya Herald that there currently exists no Libyan law permitting banks to take or store customer biometric data. The Libyan state does not have a national biometric databank. Therefore, this raises the question of: if Wahda bank is to operate within the existing law, which biometric database will it be using for its customers?

It will be interesting to see if this service is indeed rolled out what the reaction of the CBL in Tripoli will be – as well as other commercial banks operating in Libya. By Sami Zaptia, Libya Herald