SINGAPORE - Mastercard has opened its largest innovation lab space here in Bugis.

Since April, the digital payments company has used the space as a research and development facility for digital payments methods.

It also plans to use the space to host different events, such as developer networking events and university dialogue sessions to encourage new technology and methods for digital payments.

On Friday (June 9), as part of its digital innovations showcase it showed how it was possible to pay for purchases by taking a selfie through an app with biometric authentication where consumers could verify their credit card information through a photo of their face.

Another innovation that was on display was Pepper, a humanoid robot that is able to receive orders for food through voice commands.

Payment solutions for Pepper will be rolled out later this year.

"The (Mastercard innovation) team continually expands.. and now with this facility, it gives an indication on how we have been doubling down on Singapore as the place where we want to drive innovation," said Mr Tobias Puehse, Mastercard's vice-president of innovation management, digital payments & labs.