FACING BANKING'S FUTURE; NEW WAVE OF ATMS TO SCAN CUSTOMERS FOR IDENTIFICATION.Byline: Deborah Adamson Daily News Staff Writer Imagine a world without ATM cards and personal identification numbers, where the human body serves as the ultimate ID. It sounds like a world created by Q, James Bond's technical guru. But it's not; in fact, it could be just a street corner away. Diebold Inc., the country's largest maker of automated teller machines automated teller machine (ATM), device used by bank customers to process account transactions. Typically, a user inserts into the ATM a special plastic card that is encoded with information on a magnetic strip. , last month unveiled an ATM that uses face and voice recognition to access accounts. As a customer steps up to the ATM, a camera will take a snapshot. Using the science of biometrics, the customer's eyebrows, nose, cheekbones and other unique facial features Facial Features See also anatomy; beards; body, human; eyes. gnathism the condition of having an upper jaw that protrudes beyond the plane of the face. — gnathic, adj. will be matched to a photo on record. It doesn't stop there. The account holder speaks a four- to five-word password - like ``Bob is a terrific dad'' - into a microphone, where the tone and inflections are compared to records. Its competitor, NCR (NCR Corporation, Dayton, OH, www.ncr.com) A technology company specializing in financial terminal transactions, retail systems and data warehousing. Until the late 1990s, NCR was heavily invested in the hardware side of the industry, known worldwide as a major manufacturer of computers , has developed an ATM that identifies customers by scanning their retinas. ``You don't need cards or PINs anymore,'' said Tom Swidarski, a marketing executive at Canton, Ohio-based Diebold. It's certainly not your father's ATM anymore. In fact, customer identification isn't the only new feature of the ATMs of the future. Far from merely spitting out $20 bills, taking deposits and transferring balances between accounts, the next generation of ATMs will be smarter, sleeker and offer plenty of bells and whistles A slang English term for exceptional features in some product. In the computer field, it typically refers to functions in software that may be greatly appreciated by some users, even though they may not be necessary most of the time. . Already, Wells Fargo Wells Fargo armored carriers of bullion. [Am. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 1147] See : Protectiveness Wells Fargo company that handled express service to western states; often robbed. [Am. Hist. sells stamps through its ATMs, ski tickets in 550 Northern California Northern California, sometimes referred to as NorCal, is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The region contains the San Francisco Bay Area, the state capital, Sacramento; as well as the substantial natural beauty of the redwood forests, the northern locations, and a scattering of machines allow additional services such as subway tickets and bus tokens. But upcoming ATMs will offer much more. They will allow Internet access See how to access the Internet. , booking and dispensing of airline tickets, instant activation of phone cards, withdrawal of Social Security and welfare benefits, bill payment and other transactions. ``We have gone from a virtually infant technology to one where there are more than 100,000 machines each doing an average of 5,000 transactions a month,'' said Rocky Clancy, executive vice president of the Bank Administration Institute in Chicago, an industry trade group. Clancy remembers ATMs in the 1970s that only accepted bills folded in two and held with a paper clip. The paper clips would attach to a spindle, which gradually pushed the clips to the edge of the bills and money would fall into a drawer. Today, not only are ATMs more sophisticated, they have proliferated as well. There are 165,000 machines in use nationwide, up 18 percent from a year ago, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Mentis Corp., a Durham, N.C.-based market research firm specializing in technology within the financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. industry. Over the past two years, ATMs have been popping up in nontraditional locations, such as truck stops, convenience stores The following is a list of convenience stores organized by geographical location. Stores are grouped by the lowest heading that contains all locales in which the brands have significant presence. and supermarkets, said Beth Phillips, senior project manager at Mentis. Not only will the number of ATMs continue to grow as companies reach for a share of the lucrative fees they collect, but they will be scrambling to offer more services as well. Los Angeles-based Cash Technologies has developed ATM-X, a machine that gives customers access to products and the ability to customize them. For instance, instead of buying prepaid phone cards at set rates, ATM-X would allow customers to specify how much phone time they want to buy. ATM-X also can accept dollar bills, which are instantly credited to your account. At present, deposits made through ATMs can't be withdrawn immediately until a bank employee counts the money and enters the figure into your account. Customers can pay utility bills through the machine as well and it can be programmed to dispense welfare, Social Security and pension benefits. ``It becomes like a little personal finance center,'' said Bruce Korman, chief executive of Cash Technologies. The first ATM-X units will be used by Star Bank in Cincinnati. The company is in talks with two Los Angeles-area banks it wouldn't identify for installation of these machines. IBM (International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, www.ibm.com) The world's largest computer company. IBM's product lines include the S/390 mainframes (zSeries), AS/400 midrange business systems (iSeries), RS/6000 workstations and servers (pSeries), Intel-based servers (xSeries) has developed a software that allows ATMs to connect with the systems of other companies in order to offer different products and services. For example, it would allow a customer to book airline tickets and print out boarding passes from an ATM. Visa USA Inc. in San Mateo San Mateo (săn mətā`ō), city (1990 pop. 85,486), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1894. It is a commercial and retail center with some high-technology manufacturing. San Mateo, Spanish for St. , which owns the Plus ATM network, this month launched a technology also allowing member banks to sell a variety of products. Stamps, gift certificates, subway tickets and other goods can be dispensed by cash cassettes that normally store money for ATM withdrawals. Since new ATMs can have as many as six cassettes, two can be devoted to cash and the rest to other sundry products, said Ronald Reed, vice president of the ATM Product Office at Visa. Banc One, a Columbus, Ohio-based bank with branches in 13 states, uses it. Visa is in talks with Bank of America
Bank of America (NYSE: BAC TYO: 8648 ) is the largest commercial bank in the United States in terms of deposits, and the largest company of its kind in the world. for implementation. While all these new technologies might be exciting, Bank of America spokesman Harvey Radin said financial institutions must tread carefully. ``You don't want to create long lines at ATMs,'' he said. CAPTION(S): Drawing Drawing: (Color) SUPER TELLER Dionisio Munoz/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion