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.'' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. If you reply to this message, your message WILL be *automatically* anonymized and you are allocated an anon id. Read the help file to prevent this. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi.