The eye-scan cashpoint

Bank plans to bring in ATMs that use your retina image instead of your PIN

A MAJOr banking group is testing technology that will allow customers to withdraw money via a retina scan.

Citigroup wants to replace PINs with a biometric scanner that could change the way we draw out cash.

Customers would use an app on their phones to key in the amount of money they want in advance.

When they approach the cash machine it links up to the app and uses a retina scan to confirm the customer’s identity before the ATM will release any notes.

Citigroup said the scans would take 15 seconds to complete, compared with 45 seconds for traditional transactions. It would mean cards could not be ‘skimmed’ by an illegal reader fixed to an ATM, making life harder for criminals and identity thieves.

The Wall St Journal reported that Citigroup had not set a date for when the retina scanners would be introduced.

The bank will have to overcome privacy issues as some customers may be uncomfortable giving their biometric data.

Citigroup has been working with cash machine manufacturer Diebold. Tests have been carried out on 30 consumers in a laboratory at its head office in New York.

The test machines do not even have a screen or a touchpad as all the information is put on the app ahead of time. JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America are working on similar technology.

It comes as credit scoring firm FICO said that in May the number of attacks on debit cards used at ATMs in the US reached its highest level in 20 years.

In the UK, criminals have become increasingly crafty at getting consumers’ PINs from cash machines, including installing tiny cameras to record the moment they type the information in.

Statistics show that credit and debit card fraud is a serious problem in Britain too.

Fraud on lost or stolen cards in the first six months of last year reached £29.2million, up 3 per cent from the same period in 2013.

The cost of counterfeit fraud – using cards that have been cloned – increased by 4 per cent to £24.2million.

Police have advised consumers to watch out for people who get too close to them at ATMs.

Users should also cover the keypad with their hand when they type in their PIN in case there is a hidden camera.