Biometric Bank Cards

The new cash cards from Japan's Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group look pretty much like any other bank card, but there's one key difference: they have images of their owner's blood vessels stored inside them.  At the ATM, the account owners take out the cards and place their hands over a scanner (developed by Fujitsu Ltd.).  The palm-size machine compares the scan with the pattern stored inside the card's circuitry, and if the match is made, the customer is free to withdraw up to the bank's maximum daily limit.

Technology like this is designed to cut down on fraudulent transactions and give bank customer's peace of mind about their savings. 

Source: "New Biometric Identifier Is at Hand" from the July 21st, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal (print).