Macau to launch facial recognition and identity card checks for ATMs after withdrawals surpass HK$10 billion a month

Facial recognition technology will be used to scan millions of bank card users at ATMs across Macau in an unprecedented move by authorities to tackle money laundering and capital flight.

The high-tech screening system and identity checks will first be installed at ATMs in and around casinos before it is extended to cover all 1,300 cash dispensing machines in the former Portuguese enclave.

In a statement released Sunday – ahead of Chinese state leader, Zhang Dejiang’s visit to the city on Monday – the Macau government said all holders of mainland-issued China UnionPay bank cards “will be required to scan their mainland identity card and undergo a facial recognition check’’.

Officials did not put a time frame on the scheme’s implementation, but said holders of UnionPay cards issued in Macau or places outside the mainland would not be affected.

Mainlanders make up the vast majority of visitors to Macau. Out of a total of 30 million visitors last year, 20 million were from the mainland – mainly from Guangdong province.

The move came after the South China Morning Post reported that withdrawals from city’s cash dispensing machines had surpassed HK$10 billion per month and that special measures would be introduced around-the-clock to ensure ATMs never run out of bank notes.