Mastercard has announced it's now rolling out a new technology called Identity Check Mobile which should make it quicker and easier to pay for things on your phone. The technology has already been trialled in the US, Canada and the Netherlands and must have been successful since it's now being rolled out to 12 European countries including the UK.

Identity Check Mobile uses your fingerprints and facial recognition to authorise payments instead of passwords and memorable data. You'll first need to download the Mastercard app and take a selfie, from which the service will store a digitised version of your face on Mastercard's servers. Mastercard will use the photo stored as a reference for when you make future purchases, so perhaps it's best you don't smile just incase you can't match it exactly.

And don't worry about someone using a photo of your face to authorise payments, as Mastercard will ask you to blink to make sure you're human.

The company also reckons its new service will "dramatically speed up" online purchases, with Ajay Bhalla, president of enterprise risk & security at Mastercard adding: "Shopping in person has been revolutionised thanks to advanced like contactless cards, mobile payments and wearables, and now we are making Identity Check Mobile a reality for online shopping in Europe, and soon, the world."