Banks eyeball sci-fi style identification for ATMs

[an215712@anon.penet.fi]

Date: Sun, 24 Sep 1995 10:20:05 PDT
  	  	
	  NEW YORK (American Banker) - Biometric identification, a 
process formerly seen only in futuristic movies and 
high-security government offices, may soon become part of the 
most common consumer banking transactions.  
	 Bankers' interest in biometric ID -- a sophisticated 
antifraud measure that exploits the fact that every human 
possesses unique physical characteristics -- dates back more 
than a decade.  
	 But until recently most banks and equipment manufacturers 
have watched the development of technology that recognizes 
fingerprints, voices, and other personal traits from a distance.  
	 That has begun to change, experts said. One of the companies 
leading the charge toward everyday use of biometric 
identification in banking is Sensar Inc., a Princeton, 
N.J.-based company that is developing an automated teller 
machine application for its patented Iriscan process.  
	 According to experts, the eye is one of the most unique 
parts of the human body and the iris biometric more reliable 
than virtually any other, including fingerprints and voice.  
	 Voices change over the course of a life, and fingerprints 
sometimes disappear on people who work with their hands.  
	 By contrast, the iris, which is the colored area of the eye, 
is stable throughout a lifetime. They are thoroughly unique and 
naturally visible.  
	 In a nutshell, the company's product, to be sold under the 
name Irisident, is being designed to capture an image of a 
consumer's eye and match it to an image on file before 
authorizing an ATM transaction.  
	 ``The research that's been done with consumers indicates 
they like the idea of having biometric verification -- it gives 
them a feeling of greater security,'' said Liam Carmody, a 
principal with the Ridgewood, N.J.-based consulting firm Carmody 
& Bloom. ``But they don't want intrusive verification.''  
	 Sensar officials understand that the use of the eye as an 
identification tool is likely to meet with skepticism from some 
bankers, who wonder whether consumers will rebel against it.  
	 However, they said their ATM application -- which should be 
available in prototype in the next few months -- is being 
designed to address the consumer concerns. And they insist that 
Irisident products will be of practical use to bankers.  
	 ``We are operating under the assumption that the consumer is 
not going to put his eye up to something to be scanned,'' said 
Kevin McQuade, vice president of strategic business development 
at Sensar.  
	 ``The breakthrough here is the ability to obtain the image 
of the eye unintrusively,'' said Thomas Drury, president and 
chief executive of Sensar, which is a unit of the David Sarnoff 
Research Center Inc., also based in Princeton.  
	 Several influential companies have committed money to the 
development of an ATM application for Sensar's technology, 
including Huntington Bancshares Inc., OKI Electric Industry 
Ltd., and a money-center bank that does not want to be 
identified.  
	 Though the bankers declined to discuss their investment in 
the project, OKI Electric has committed a minimum of $25.8 
million for development funding in return for the exclusive 
rights to market the products in Japan, where the Tokyo-based 
company is the leading vendor of ATMs.  
	 Experts said this support shows that the financial services 
industry is looking for alternatives to the personal 
identification numbers and computer passwords that have been 
compromised with increasing frequency in recent years.  
	 The choices are many, and include fingerprints, on-line 
signature verification, and even the measurement of facial 
thermal zones.  
	 ``Bankers are interested in alternatives to the PIN,'' said 
V. John Stroia, a marketing manager with Diebold, Canton, Ohio. 
Diebold and IBM operate an ATM joint venture known as InterBold.  
	 ``The major barrier is not so much the technology as getting 
the customer acclimated to'' using biometric technologies. But, 
he added, capturing sensitive biometric data -- such as that 
from the eye or face -- ``is going to have to be covertly 
done.''  
  	   	

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