Biometric Data Processing Notice

This Wise Biometric Data Processing Notice describes how Wise and its service providers handle customer biometric data.

If there is inconsistency between this notice and any prior consent you’ve given (or withheld), your selected preference will prevail.

Purposes

As part of our identity verification process, we and our service providers may use software to extract face scan information from photos and videos of you, including to compare the image on your identification document(s) with a photo or video of you captured during the registration process. These face scans may be considered biometric data under relevant privacy laws.

We will process your biometric data as part of our identity verification process when you open a Wise account in some jurisdictions and to keep your account safe while you are a customer, including for fraud prevention purposes. For example, we use face scan information to confirm it's really you when you need to regain access to your Wise account or pair a new device to your Wise account.

We also process this data to confirm the authenticity of the images and documents, checking for signs of tampering or whether a genuine human or physical document in your photos/videos is present. To detect fraudulent and suspicious activity on your account or attempts to access it, we also collect behavioural data. This includes details of your login and interaction with our website or app, such as typing cadence, keystrokes, and touch and mouse behavior.

As a digital payment services provider with fully remote communication, we can only offer a remote check to verify you. We therefore need your consent to process your biometric data and proceed with your verification and onboarding.

ID Verification Service Providers

The collection, processing and storage of biometric information is carried out either:

• directly by Wise, in which case your biometric data remains solely within our internal server or cloud; or
• by an ID verification service provider that is acting on behalf of Wise such as Jumio or Onfido. In this latter case, when consenting to the biometric check, you confirm you have read, understood and accepted the
  • Onfido Facial Scan Policy and Release,
  • Onfido Privacy Policy,
  • and Onfido Terms of Service
  • Jumio Online Services Privacy Notice.

Wise does not sell, lease, trade or otherwise profit from the biometric data. We will not share, disseminate or otherwise disclose your biometric data to any other third party, unless required by applicable laws or pursuant to a valid warrant or subpoena.

Retention and Storage

We may retain your biometric data in accordance with applicable law until the initial purpose for collecting or obtaining your biometric data has been satisfied.

Should you have any questions, comments or requests regarding this notice, you can always reach out to our privacy team at privacy@wise.com.

To learn more about how Wise process your data, read our Privacy Notice