Citigroup Plans Thumbprint ATMs For India's Poor

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.'"

Re:Hm

[From A Far Away Land]

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.

Leper colonies...

[__aaclcg7560]

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?

Re:this is going to leed to allot of...

[MichaelSmith]

leed to allot

of illiterate Indians?

Blood

[fyoder]

And if their account is empty, a vein seeking needle will creep up the arm and extract a pint of blood for which their account will be credited. They're working on a method for collecting sperm which doesn't violate public modesty, but have yet to come up with anything that can be field tested. The extraction of organs will likely not appear for some time, as preliminary experiments on monkies have been... messy.

Re:Hm

[DeepZenPill]

Gives new meaning to having your account "hacked."