Canara Bank launches mobile biometric ATM

Canara Bank has launched its first mobile biometric ATM to enable people in rural areas have access to banking facilities. RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat inaugurated the unit in Devanahalli, on the outskirts of Bangalore, on Thursday. The bank plans to launch nine more mobile ATMs in the next few months.

Each mobile ATM is powered by a hand-held device to capture finger impressions, RFID-enabled smart cards and also has a customer lobby with information on the bank's various products.

Customer finger prints can be captured either at the branch or at their homes, registered via a CDMA handset and later stored in the biometric server.

The transaction is authenticated by the customer's fingerprint instead of a PIN, and a pre-recorded voice system guides him/her through the process, in a regional language.

The system enables illiterate people to check their account balance and withdraw cash from their accounts. The customers can transact in other branches where Canara Bank's biometric ATMs have been installed, currently in five states.

According to Canara Bank Chairman and MD M B N Rao, the bank is likely to deploy more such biometric ATMs in rural and semi-urban areas soon.

While the cost of producing each smart card was around Rs 100, the hand-held device cost a "few thousand rupees", bank officials said.

To further achieve financial inclusion, the bank is also providing transaction facilities to its customers through hand-held devices operated by smart cards with biometric identifications.

Under a pilot project, smart cards will be provided to customers of Eliyur in Devanahalli and Sulakunte in Kuluvanahalli. Customer identification and authorisation of transactions are done using fingerprints.

The smart cards can be used in any Canara Bank biometric ATMs anywhere in the country. The services can also be availed of by the customers via designated business correspondents or representatives trained to provide banking services in their own villages.