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Citigroup Plans Thumbprint ATMs For India's Poor

Posted by kdawson on from the beware-of-gummi-bears dept.

Brad Lucier points out a Financial Times report (carried by MSN Money) that Citigroup is rolling out a network of biometric ATMs aimed at illiterate Indian slum dwellers. From the article: "The machines will recognize account holders' thumbprints, eliminating the need for a personal identification number, and will have color-coded screen instructions and voiceovers to help guide them through transactions... Though India's population exceeds 1 billion, Citigroup estimates that there are only about 300 million bank accounts in the country... 'It's not a philanthropic exercise,' [PS Jayakumar, a Citigroup business manager in India] said. 'For it to be sustainable, we should break even and make a little bit of money.'"

7 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. Hm by malkir · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So instead of thieves stealing your wallet, they'll just cut off your thumb instead!

    1. Re:Hm by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 4, Funny

      The illegal thumb trade is about to take off in India, that's for sure.

      Meanwhile, illegal thumb drives are still the domain of the Chinese.

      --
      Oh You POS
  2. Leper colonies... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    So will this be extended to the poor lepers who need banking services just like anyone else? Or will another big corporation shun this market segment?

  3. Re:this is going to leed to allot of... by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Funny
    leed to allot

    of illiterate Indians?

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  4. or: "Test on low exposure customers"... by gjuk · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Citigroup has a target of 50,000 slum-dwelling customers. That means the total deposits might be $100 * 50,000 = $5million. Assuming Citigroup makes 5% on this, it's $250,000 profit opportunity. This barely justifies 25 ATMs and the effort to get these people banking. The reality is that Citigroup is trialling (a) biometrics and (b) low income banking. They are separate trials.. Slashdot readers all know that fingerprint reading has not yet reached the point we'd trust our own bank accounts to it. Citigroup know this too - they are using people with little to lose to carry out large scale experiments. If someone gets 'hacked'- it'll cost $100 to reimburse them. Tops. Much better there than here... Low income banking; China and India account for 1/4 - 1/3 of the world's population - and they are currently not very wealthy. Still, make a margin and there's a good volume. What's more - over time, they may become wealthy and it'd be nice to 'own' these economies...

  5. Gummy Bear Sales to Skyrocket? by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/05/16/gummi_bear s_defeat_fingerprint_sensors/

  6. This might be an insensitive question but... by JustNiz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    why is the bank assuming (or even finding) that poor people can't remember pin numbers?