Releasing your Inner James Bond, Diebold and Citi Unveil Eye Scan ATMs

Let’s face it, fingerprint systems and other biometric systems are cool, but nothing gets your inner James Bond out more than an eye scanner that opens doors for us and unlocks our computers instead of passwords or keys. With eye scanners you don’t even need to lift a finger (although I wear glasses, so not sure how that works), which puts it ahead of the pack of other biometric verification systems or NFC based security by waving a smartphone.

Showing off technology at Money 20/20 showing that we may not be that far away from eye scanners arriving to mainstream banking and payments, is Diebold. A provider of ATMs for banks, Diebold unveiled the Irving concept ATM. A screenless ATM, the machine is 37% narrower than traditional terminals and can provide cash withdrawals with an eye scan or through their smartphone using NFC technology or QR code readers.

For bank customers, the Irving ATM would be expected to provide an expedited cash withdrawal experience in the under ten second range. In terms of banks, beyond efficiency, the ATM increases customer engagement.

Unlike traditional ATMs where customers handle their input requests on the terminal’s screen, Irving is a smartphone based system. Using a bank app, bank customers enter their cash withdrawal request. Upon nearing an Irving ATM, the app communicates with the system, of which customers than can process the requested withdrawal with the eye scanner, waving their phones or scanning a QR code.

Still in its concept stage, Diebold has partnered with Citi which will be testing the Irving ATM at their New York innovation lab. The partnership with Citi comes as the bank faces the of maintaining its branch strategy while improving efficiency to both physical and digital banking.

Along with the Irving concept, Diebold also unveiled Janus, a double sided banking terminal with new technology to improve self-service customer transactions. On the twin products, Frank Natoli, Executive Vice President of Self-Service Technology at Diebold, stated: “Our latest concepts embody a new era of banking and put the user experience at the top of the pyramid to connect consumers with their money when and how they see fit.”