Alibaba Group Holding's fintech affiliate Ant Group has applied for a patent involving the use of palm recognition in digital payments, as Chinese tech firms race to explore the usage of biometrics in cashless transactions. With facial recognition becoming an increasingly common way of verifying payments in China, Ant subsidiary Alipay (Hangzhou) Information Technology Co in March filed an application for a patent on the use of palm recognition in payments and devices, according to information r