No Bank Card Required: Citigroup Testing Eye-Scanning ATM

No card reader, no PIN pad, no touch-screen display — how you bank at your ATM could drastically change in the not-so-distant future. Citigroup is testing an automated teller machine made by Canton, Ohio-based Diebold that relies on your smartphone and perhaps an eye scan to dispense your cash, NBC News reported.

Diebold's so-called "Irving" system works like this: Let's say you want to get $100 from your ATM. Instead of taking your bank card with you, you schedule your withdrawal ahead of time on your phone via your bank's mobile app. When you walk up to the screenless machine, it identifies you in one of several ways: Near Field Communication, QR Code or biometrics (scanning your iris, a technique that's considered far more fail-safe than fingerprints as a form of ID).

The machine then spits out the cash and you go on your merry way.

Diebold said the entire transaction could be completed in less than 10 seconds. The new system is more secure than traditional ATMs, in part because you wouldn't need a card and wouldn't have to punch in a PIN, the company said.

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