By Adekunle Adekoya
IT was in the immediate post-banking consolidation period; most banks began offering services that were known and enjoyed only in foreign climes. One such service was the deployment of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) by banks nationwide.

Users on queue at a bank's ATM

Philip Egbayelo (not real names), had recently retired from the Nigeria Police Force. Few months after shedding the black uniform, he was told by a colleague, also retired, that cheques for their gratuities were ready.

Exclaiming inwardly at how life would improve on having all that money (about N1.45 million), Egbayelo, from the riverine parts of Ondo State made his way the following day to the pensions office, and after little formality, collected his cheque.

Making his way to a branch of the bank where he had an account, he lodged the cheque, and was told the money would be in his account after seven days. He was also offered an ATM card; it would ease his banking needs, he was told, and what’s more, he could withdraw money anytime, weekends and public holidays inclusive. He accepted, got the ATM card, and following instructions, tried to memorize his PIN .

That effort made Egbayelo write the PIN on the back of an old diary he carried everywhere, looking at the number often so it would stick in his brain. It would later come to light that he was not the only person in whose brain the PIN had stuck.

After the first withdrawal from his account, which still left a tidy, seven-figure balance, Egbayelo was at the bank two months later to make another withdrawal, only to discover that his balance was less than N500.

How?, he screamed, and fainted.

When he was revived in hospital later, it was a serving Police officer who pointed out to him that the PIN he wrote on the back of the diary he carried everywhere could have been memorized by anybody, who could use it to withdraw money from his account.

But with the innovation last Friday 11 February by First Bank of Nigeria, experiences like that of Egbayelo above may no longer occur as the nation’s oldest bank introduced biometric ATMs. At the occasion, the bank’s Group MD/CEO, Bisi Onasanya said that “in the increasingly technology-driven business environment, we are keen to provide solutions that are relevant to our customers’ dynamic needs, hence we are the first bank in Nigeria to bring this and other celebrated initiatives.

“The Biometric ATM solution is available to our existing cardholders, who may wish to add biometric authentication as part of their transaction approval process on our ATMs in addition to PIN selection, while systematically new cardholders would be issued cards with only biometric authentication functionality.”

In the same vein, Chuma Ezirin, the bank’s head of e-Business added that “cardholders, especially those who can neither read nor write and the elderly, would be issued cards with only biometric authentication functionality.”

After the event, officials explained further that the bank opted for biometric ATMs because authentication using customer’s biometric features has proved to more secure and also addresses most challenges of migrating illiterates and the very elderly customers to electronic channels.

Further, it was explained that the introduction of the new ATMs was timely, “especially at this period where fraud prevention and building customer confidence on the use of electronic channels are key customer acquisition and retention strategies.

This would also drive financial inclusion, a Central Bank initiative to address the banking needs of the unbanked population. We believe that this solution, being the first in the market would position the bank as the technology bank, thereby getting high corporate visibility and recognition. It would enhance channel migration and customer retention capabilities and provide unique value proposition to win new accounts.

At the moment however, the biometric ATM is on test-run, with just one unit in the Marina in Lagos, but officials disclosed that plans are afoot to retrofit all First Bank ATMs with the second factor authentication in the next few months, with the hope that by end of the year’s second quarter, all the bank’s ATMs nationwide would have been retrofitted.

It was also disclosed that the bank would be embarking on an “aggressive product awareness and campaign to leverage on our first mover advantage”in order to bring the new service to the attention of the general public.

With biometric ATMs, registered SIM cards, biometric voter’s registration, and other forms of IT-based identity management solutions, the nation may be on its way to solving a major problem, the identity management crisis.