A study for ANZ Bank conducted by Newspoll found that many Australians favour the use of new but difficult to cheat technologies to access their bank accounts. In lieu of plastic cards used to withdraw money from ATMs, they would prefer retina or fingerprint scanning technology.

For survey respondents in the age bracket 18 to 34, 88 per cent are open to using digital technology for their daily bank transactions, while 75 per cent of older Aussies have the same attitude. Those who prefer eye scan technology was 67 per cent among the 1,200 plus Australians who served as the survey respondents, while 79 per cent opt for fingerprint technology in lieu of a PIN to access their accounts.

However, the research said that while more Aussies are accepting digital banking, they would still resort to personal interaction with their bankers for major financial transactions such as loan applications.

The new technologies would solve security problems associated with current technologies such as the ATM card, which when lost or stolen, could risk the bank account being wiped out of its contents. Even outside misplaced or missing ATM cards, bank account holders also have to memorise PINS or passwords for online accounts that could be jumbled or be keyed in wrongly and risk having a wrong transaction.

ANZ will unveil plans to invest $1.5 billion over the next five years in new technologies such as 800 next generation ATMs and video conferencing capabilities in regional branches.

The next generations permit clients to deposit coins, notes and cheques which would be immediately credited to their accounts.

Actually, 40 ANZ branches, mostly in Queensland, already offer video conferencing, which would go to 43 by the end of the year as its branches in Murwillumbah, Roma and South Australia offer the technology.

While video conference provides bank customers access to expert advice for home loans and financial planning, ANZ said it would not cause job losses in regional branches since it only provides a service that wasn't available before.

Futurist Ross Dawson said that in the coming time, retina or fingerprint technology would be used not only to access online bank accounts but for other financial transactions as cash and coins and even credit or debit cards apparently are on the road to being phased out.

ANZ said it was surprised by the results of the research but said the bank would take at least five to ten years away from shifting to the use of biometric technology for financial transactions. The bank said it needs more research to make assessment of risk associated with the newer technologies.

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