CAB will deploy the IrisGuard iBank suite IG-AD100 iris cameras at all teller and customer service desks across its 70-odd branches in Jordan and Palestine. The bank's 190 ATMs will also be fitted with the cameras.

The vendor says the biometric technology will be used to authenticate banking transactions for all customers. The system reduces the risk of fraud, identity theft and unauthorised access, says the vendor.

The product incorporates digital certificates and encryption identity security techniques such as digital certificates and encryption to ensure the integrity and privacy of biometric data transmitted across networks.

Take-up of biometric authentication by banks has been sluggish but some studies have shown that customers are open to the technology.

Research released by Unisys last year found that around 92% of UK consumers and 69% of US customers surveyed would prefer banks, credit card companies, healthcare providers and government organisations to use biometric technologies to verify personal identities, rather than other protection measures such as smart cards, security tokens, passwords and PINs, said Unisys.

Furthermore, an earlier study commissioned by online security firm Truste and conducted by market information group TNS found that over half of US customers support the addition of biometric authentication information to credit and debit payment cards.

However some banks have moved to use biometric technology for access control, rather than customer verification. Dutch financial services group ING said last year that it will use biometric fingerprint technology to control dealer access to workstations on its trading floors. Meanwhile, in February this year Société Générale said it will implement biometric access controls for dealing personnel after an internal investigation into the EUR5bn rogue trading scandal at the bank found major weaknesses in its supervision, security and control procedures.

Earlier this year the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) published a new standard that stipulates the security requirements for the implementation and management of biometric authentication technology within the financial services industry.

The ISO 19092 standard describes the security framework for using biometric technologies - such as fingerprint scans, voice identification, iris images and facial scans - for authentication purposes in financial services.

The new standard promotes the integration of biometrics into the financial industry and the management of biometric data as part of the overall information security management programme, says the standards body.