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Face-scanning, fingerprinting
ATMs gain ground
By Laura
Bruce • Bankrate.com
Is the day finally coming when
you can forget your PIN and still not hold up the ATM drive-through
line at the bank?
Could be, thanks to a variety of
scientific techniques grouped under the term biometrics.
Using biometrics to verify a person's identity
has been talked about for several years. Heck, it's old hat in spy
movies.
Behold ... biometrics
Now, ATMs and cash dispensers using biometrics are slowly but steadily
being deployed throughout the country and could be coming soon --
within two to four years -- to a bank, credit union, mall, convenience
store or casino near you.
Biometrics can be used in various ways to identify
you: behavioral (which includes voice and signature) or physiological
(hand, iris, face, and fingerprint). Retina-scanning laser technology
is also available, but so far the reaction from most companies has
been, "No way." Consumers apparently aren't ready for their banker
to shoot them in the eye with a laser beam.
So far, no ATMs ask for a drop of blood so it
can extract DNA for identification.
The idea isn't necessarily to do away with cards
so much as to raise the level of security. Use something for identification
that can't be lost, stolen or forgotten and maybe there will be
less fraud.
The push to put biometric ATMs and cash transaction
kiosks within your reach is small, but gaining momentum.
Mark Radke of Diebold, one of the biggest ATM
manufacturers in the United States, says the emergence of biometrics
has been slow in part because of the technology and partly due to
slow overall acceptance by the public. But that's changing, he says,
to the point where credit unions, which have been more aggressive
than banks about using biometrics, see the new technology as a customer
draw.
Janet Harris, CEO of Riverside Health System
Employees Credit Union in Newport News, Va., agrees. Her credit
union has had biometric "kiosks" since July 1998. They use a fingerprint
scan for identification -- something some industry surveys have
shown customers may equate with identifying criminals.
"The fingerprint has never been perceived here
as criminal," says Harris. "In reality, we're not keeping the fingerprint
anyway. The scan is reading the ridges of your finger and converting
them into a numeric algorithm. Newport News is a very heavy military
security area -- they're all used to a lot of security. Plus this
tends to be a younger group of people and they're OK with technology."
The first time a customer uses the kiosk, they're
asked for their account number and their fingerprint. The customer
then shows picture ID to an employee who completes the registration
process. After that, the customer can lose the old ATM card and
forget the PIN or hold on to it if they want, because most biometric
machines also accept cards.
If, one day, a customer steps up to the kiosk
and it doesn't accept her fingerprint, a friendly sign appears stating,
"I'm sorry, you don't appear to be yourself today." The kiosk, which
the credit union calls "Money Buddy," then offers advice for a better
fingerprint scan, such as rubbing your thumb on your face to get
a little oil on it if you just washed your hands and they're too
dry.
Harris says more than 1,000 of the credit union's
3,200 customers have registered their fingerprints. The kiosks do
a lot more than spit out money. Customers can print a check payable
to anyone, print statements, transfer funds, apply for loans and
even send the bank e-mails.
If you're the gambling type, there's a good
chance you'll be using a biometric machine if you need some quick
cash.
The next generation
Infonox, in Santa Clara, Calif., installed ACMs, automated cashier
machines, at Harrah's casino last month. Infonox president Safwan
Shah says it's the first machine to allow customers to get a cash
advance from a credit card without using a PIN. The Infonox machine
uses facial recognition.
"The first time you use it, it takes your picture
and gives you a receipt, which you take to the cashier. The cashier
pulls up the picture that was taken at the ACM, checks it against
your picture ID and then swipes your card," says Shah. "You're now
enrolled in the system. People are skeptical when they first approach
the device. They're used to a certain operation style and now suddenly
that device says it wants to take your picture. They get enrolled
in the system and then discover the value of the machine when they
come back for the second transaction."
From then on you just step up to the ACM, your
picture is taken, the computer rapidly scans its files for your
photo and then you key in how much cash you want.
The facial scan is also based on an algorithm,
says Frances Zelazny of Visionics in Jersey City, N.J.
"It detects certain landmarks on the face and
measures the distance between them -- cheekbone, tip of nose, bridge
of nose, eye socket. There are about 80 of them, but the system
only requires 14 to 22 to do the recognition."
Zelazny says it doesn't matter if you've grown
a beard or had a nose job since the original picture was taken,
the machine will still know it's you.
A San Francisco company is also using facial
scans in its RPMs, rapid pay machines. (There's a new alphabet soup
to learn with these machines, but they all spell m-o-n-e-y.) InnoVentry
has 950 RPMs in convenience and grocery stores in 20 states. Another
1500 machines will be put in Kroger supermarkets during the next
year.
Many of the RPMs can perform regular ATM tasks,
but their primary function is the ability to cash checks. Spokesman
Gil Roeder says the typical customer is a recent immigrant who tends
to look outside traditional banks for routine transactions such
as check cashing.
"Our customers often feel traditional banks
are a hassle -- limited hours, minimum balances. They'd go to check-cashing
places. We're offering an alternative to fringe banking operations
and an alternative to banks."
An added feature of the RPM kiosk is that if
customers have a question they can pick up a phone attached to the
kiosk and talk to someone in InnoVentry's call center to get a problem
resolved. InnoVentry plans to add two more features to its RPMs
this summer: money orders and wire transfers.
"The typical ATM can just do yes and no transactions.
We can do yes, no and maybe, with maybe being the ability to ask
questions," says Roeder. "The power of these machines is the application
foundation is very flexible and can accommodate a variety of financial
services products, unlike the 20-year-old applications found on
ATMs."
Big business backing
Clearly, the technology has evolved to the point where biometric
identification methods are reliable, and the multifunction machines
are far more useful than traditional ATMs. All the companies we
talked with say customers are comfortable with the biometric process
once they try it. So what will it take to finally get these machines
mass-produced and in front of the public?
Bill Rogers, publisher of Biometric Digest,
says things should change now that some major corporations are getting
behind biometrics.
"Microsoft has committed to putting biometrics
in a future release of Windows. Compaq Computer has built a PC with
a fingerprint scanner built into the keyboard. Visa, MasterCard
and Discover are doing pilot projects where your fingerprint is
put into the bar code, the merchant drops the card into the reader,
you put your finger on a scanner and they know the card is yours.
Once the credit card companies and Microsoft or the hardware manufacturers
make them part of the standard system, it'll move faster."
Perhaps the biggest roadblock to biometric ATMs
is money. Replacing ATMs is costly, especially if it involves thousands
of machines. Banks will have to decide if the amount of money they're
losing through credit card fraud makes it worth changing to a better
system. In the meantime, credit unions and other financial services
may take the lead in bringing biometrics to a kiosk near you.
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