Banks in Japan have started rolling out biometric access systems on cash machines in a bid to fight fraud, with Nagasaki-based Juhachi Bank the first to pilot a finger-vein-based biometrics system developed by Hitachi.
The vein authentication system requires customers to place their fingertip on a sensor. The system detects veins as a 3D pattern that is unique to each person.
Hitachi said in June it was looking to quadruple sales of its finger-vein-based biometrics system as more banks in Japan attempt to cut rising fraud levels in the country.
Along with Juhachi Bank, the Japanese Post Office is also expected to install the vein-reading systems across its branch network next year.
In May this year Fujitsu said Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi was preparing to deploy a biometric security system based on hand vein-pattern recognition technology. From October, the bank will start issuing Visa credit cards with embedded integrated circuits that contain customer vein pattern information.