A Japanese bank has announced that it will be installing about a dozen automated teller machines that can read customers’ palms to identify them.
Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank will be the country’s first to introduce the system, the Discovery News reported.
First, customers will register their biometric information at a branch. Then they’ll be able to go to one of the new ATMs and get cash simply by scanning a hand, typing in their birthdate and a four-digit PIN, according to Gizmag’s Darren Quick.
Following the massive earthquake and tsunami more than a year ago in Japan, scanning started to be seen in a new light.
Instead of being extra security, it could mean standard security for customers who need cash in an emergency but don’t have their bank cards on them.
Ziraat Bank in Turkey was the first to use the palm-scanning bank machines that don’t need a card, according to a foreign new agency.
Ogaki Kyoritsu is planning to install the new ATMs at 10 branches, two mobile banks, and a drive-through location in Japan this September.