Business

WASHINGTON — Amazon on Tuesday unveiled a new biometric payment system using palm recognition, to be made available to rival retailers and as a replacement for badge entry at stadiums or workplaces.

The system called Amazon One was touted as "a fast, convenient, contactless way for people to use their palm to make everyday activities like paying at a store, presenting a loyalty card, entering a location like a stadium, or badging into work more effortless".

The US technology giant said it would be installing the system at its Amazon Go retail locations, starting with two stores in its hometown of Seattle, Washington.

Amazon Vice President Dilip Kumar said the system was developed as "a quick, reliable, and secure way for people to identify themselves or authorize a transaction while moving seamlessly through their day".

Amazon One uses each individual's "unique palm signature", an alternative to other biometric identifiers such as fingerprint, iris or facial recognition.

"No two palms are alike, so we analyse all these aspects with our vision technology and select the most distinct identifiers on your palm to create your palm signature," Kumar said in a blog post.

In Amazon Go stores, the system will be added to the store's entry gate as an option for shoppers.

"In most retail environments, Amazon One could become an alternate payment or loyalty card option with a device at the checkout counter next to a traditional point of sale system," Kumar added.

Amazon said the biometric data would be "protected by multiple security controls and palm images are never stored on the Amazon One device" but send to a "highly secure area we custom-built in the cloud".

The company said it was "in active discussions with several potential customers," which could include other retailers, but offered no details.

PARIS — Global airlines have revised traffic forecasts lower, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Tuesday, warning that hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk without more state aid.

IATA downgraded its 2020 traffic forecast following a "dismal end to the summer travel season" in the northern hemisphere and now expects it to be 66 per cent below the level in 2019, a statement said.

IATA's previous forecast was for a drop of 63 per cent, but that was before government reimposed travel restrictions in August and the outlook faltered for the rest of the year, it added.

The association, which represents 290 airlines, said that August traffic, which it measures in revenue passenger kilometres or RPKs, plunged by 75.3 per cent from the same period in 2019.

Since then, a resurgence in coronavirus cases and more government restrictions to deal with them has prevented a strong rebound.

"A much slower improvement is now expected," the statement added.

"Absent additional government relief measures and a reopening of borders, hundreds of thousands of airline jobs will disappear," said chief executive Alexandre de Juniac.

He called for an international programme of COVID-19 tests prior to a flight's departure to give governments the confidence to open borders and passengers confidence to board planes again.

A breakdown of the industry data indicated that domestic flights were attracting more passengers than international services, though in countries such as Australia and Japan, even domestic flights were way down.

The IATA has estimated that global traffic will not reach pre-pandemic levels before 2024, and that the sector will earn $419 million less this year owing to the pandemic.

HELSINKI — Finland's Nokia will replace Huawei as BT's largest equipment provider after winning a deal to supply 5G networks across the UK, the companies announced on Tuesday. 

The move is the first UK contract for the Finnish telecoms maker since Prime Minister Boris Johnson banned mobile providers in July from using equipment made by the Chinese giant in their new 5G networks. 

The restriction, on national security grounds, forces mobile providers to begin switching out "high-risk vendors" from 2021, and marks a golden opportunity for Huawei's two main rivals in the 5G market, Finland's Nokia and Swedish Ericsson.

Companies in the UK have until 2027 to remove Huawei equipment from their 5G networks, a change which BT has said will cost it £500 million ($643m).

Under the BT deal, Nokia will supply base stations and other network equipment to allow its customers to access super-fast 5G Internet. 

Nokia equipment will also be installed in the company's existing 2G and 4G networks.

However, the company said it will also use other suppliers to replace the totality of its Huawei 5G equipment.

"With this next stage of our successful relationship with Nokia we will continue to lead the rollout of fixed and mobile networks to deliver stand out experiences for customers," BT CEO Philip Jansen said in a statement. 

Although the ban on Huawei offers a significant boost to Nokia and Ericsson, industry watchers have warned that fulfilling the increasing demand left by the market leader may not be straightforward. 

Last year, Nokia downgraded its 2020 earnings forecast in the face of fierce competition over the 5G networks market, while previous chief executive Rajeev Suri played down delays in delivering some equipment orders.

However, the firm's most recent results saw an increase in profit and new CEO Pekka Lundmark is expected to shake up the company to try to recover some of the ground lost to Nokia's 5G competitors.

PARIS — France launched a free-spending budget plan on Monday, saying a fresh spike in new Covid-19 cases justified its unprecedented loosening of the purse strings.

After 460 billion euros ($537 billion) of emergency spending this year to save the economy from the virus fallout, the government built its 2021 budget plan around a 100-billion "recovery plan", first announced this month and partly funded by EU money.

The budget came after France's health services on Saturday reported 14,412 new virus cases over the previous 24 hours — only slightly lower than the record 16,000 registered on both Thursday and Friday.

The fresh spike threatens to overwhelm hospitals, health officials warned, while the government imposed fresh curbs to limit the spread of the virus, including on restaurants, bars and sports facilities.

"There is no reason to give up the idea of a recovery just because the health difficulties have re-emerged," Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told a news conference.

The spending boost is to help the French economy to rebound strongly next year, by eight per cent according to the budget, after crashing by an expected 10 per cent this year, Le Maire said.

"We are implementing this recovery fund so it can be used up quickly and have the greatest possible impact on growth," he said.

But the growth forecast immediately drew criticism from France's high council for public finance, a state body charged with making sure that government budgetary assumptions are realistic.

The growth target was "pro-active", given the "great uncertainties" weighing on the economic outlook because of the coronavirus, the council said.

It also called on the government to be mindful of public debt which has ballooned out of recognition since the start of the crisis.

France's annual deficit is estimated at 10.2 per cent of gross domestic product this year, and is to come in at 6.7 per cent in 2021, the government said.

This compares with a permitted ceiling of three per cent for eurozone countries, which the EU has, however, lifted temporarily as governments grapple with the crisis.

The government has promised that it will not raise taxes to pay for the recovery.

DOHA — Qatar Airways said on Sunday it received $2 billion in state aid to weather the coronavirus crisis, as it posted huge annual losses after enduring one of its "most difficult years".

The firm said that the combination of the coronavirus pandemic, a boycott by Gulf neighbours and the liquidation of 49 per cent-owned Air Italy — which announced its bankruptcy in February — had resulted in a near doubling of losses.

This brought the carrier's net loss for the year to end-March to 7 billion riyals ($1.92 billion).

"Qatar Airways is familiar with facing exceptional challenges; however, 2019-20 has been one of the most difficult years in the airline's history," the carrier said in a statement.

The airline confirmed that Qatar had joined a list of governments that have stepped in to support their national carriers through the coronavirus shutdown, which has pummelled global travel and the aviation industry.

The carrier will issue 730 million shares to the government after receiving "an advance of 7.3 billion riyals" ($2 billion) after annual losses exceeded 50 per cent of share capital, it said in its annual report.

"If not for the exceptional circumstances of fiscal year 2020, our results would have been better than the year before," said the airline's chief executive, Akbar Al Baker.

The report also said that over the 12 months, revenue increased 6.5 per cent to 51.1 billion riyals, seat capacity increased by 3.2 per cent, and freight handled rose by 2.8 per cent.

The pandemic compounded an already difficult environment for Qatar Airways. The United Arab Emirates, which was a key market for the Gulf carrier, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, have enforced a boycott of Qatar since June 2017.

They accuse Doha of links to extremist groups and being too close to Iran, Riyadh's regional arch-rival — charges Qatar denies — and have closed their airspace, borders and markets to Doha.

Qatar Airways is the second largest airline in the Middle East after Dubai-based Emirates, operating a modern fleet of 250 aircraft — although some remain grounded during the pandemic. 

In July, Qatar won a ruling at the International Court of Justice in its fight against airspace restrictions by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.

It said it will seek $5 billion in compensation from the other Arab states for closing their airspace to the flag carrier.

FRANKFURT AM MAIN — Eurozone banks have readied themselves for the shock of a no-deal Brexit, but will still suffer an economic hit, the European Central Bank's supervisory board chairman said on Friday.

Banks have moved in the right direction in terms of cushioning the blow, Andrea Enria told Irish radio, and "are now ready to take the hit, to some extent". 

However, "the fact that we are prepared for a shock doesn't mean that the negative effects will not materialise", he said in an interview with RTE Morning Ireland.

"Brexit will of course have macroeconomic effects on top of the impact of COVID-19. And financial markets have not yet fully priced in the possibility of Britain leaving the European Union without a trade deal," the Italian economist added. 

The warning comes as companies on the continent, particularly in Germany, are losing hopes of a deal, according to a report in Bloomberg News. 

Many banks based in Britain have applied for licences in continental Europe to continue to serve customers on both sides of the Channel. 

More than 60 financial institutions "are in the process of establishing or considerably strengthening their presence in Germany”, the country's banking supervisor Bafin told AFP.

US bank JP Morgan said earlier this week it would shift some 200 billion euros ($233 billion) of assets from Britain to Frankfurt, Bloomberg reported.

The Brexit impact will be "on top" of the effects of the pandemic, to which banks will have to continue to adapt, Enria said.

He said banks may have to consider extending payment breaks to customers, and to "eventually distinguish good customers from bad customers that are unlikely to pay".