First European Biometric Cash Machine Launched in Poland

The first biometric cash point in Europe, which works by scanning a fingerprint rather than taking a bank card, has just been installed in Poland. The machine was installed by the BPS SA bank in Warsaw this week.

“Our bank is the first in Europe to provide its clients with a new means to secure transactions to complement the secret code of their banking card,” BPS SA Bank vice-president Krzysztof Jagielski stated at a press conference yesterday.

Now, instead of inserting a bank card, a customer will be able to press their fingertip to a scanner developed by the Japanese firm Hitachi, which reads the pattern of the small veins in a fingertip to recognise the customer’s unique signature. Once the scan is accepted, the customer has to only enter their PIN number to withdraw cash. The technique is said to be more secure than using a bank card, which can be stolen or “skimmed”. It is already widespread in Japan.

At the moment, only one such machine is in operation, though the bank has planned for several more by the end of the year, with machines numbering in the hundreds in the following years.