For a long, long, long, long, long, long time, I’ve talked about biometrics taking off in banking … and it hasn’t.
The biometrics market has picked up and tailed off in fits and starts, but there is no real mainstream biometric program out there that I’ve spotted to date.
The nearest I got was some things in Mexico with Banco Azetca’s fingerprint system in the mid-2000s, pay-by-touch which self-imploded shortly after and the Indian identity card which will give a billion people a biometric ID.
But it’s still all bunkum as no mainstream bank has rolled out a client focused biometric system that I’ve seen … until now.
At the exhibition here in Abu Dhabi I got a surprise when wandering the exhibit hall and bumping into a wee firm called Irisguard.
Now my aim here is not to advertise this firm, but just to say that they showed me their sign up and recognition system for iris scans, which are used by Dubai airports, and it seemed pretty good.
Having used iris systems before, this was far easier than any I’ve seen before and remember, iris is the most secure biometric.
So here’s their advert for banking, showing the system used in branches and ATMs …
Oh, and they are telling me they’re now also offering a simple home PC version for online transactions too.
Interesting stuff ….
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...
