We already use our fingerprint to unlock our phones, and one day soon your finger could replace your bank password.
Over the past year, U.S. banks have been ramping up efforts to incorporate biometric technology (iris scanners, fingerprint readers and facial recognition) into their systems.
Biometric scanners could let you log in to you bank account on your phone or PC, letting you transfer money or send cash without entering a password. That could potentially be safer than using a password, since your fingerprint is unique to you. Passwords can be easily guessed or hacked.
Though the technology has existed for years, data privacy has been a major curveball for banks' adoption of biometric readers.
"Americans have a huge data privacy concern," said Frank Natoli, chief innovation officer at ATM maker Diebold (DBD). Customers don't trust having their biometric data in someone else's hands, he said.
But the tide is beginning to turn. Fingerprint readers used for Apple (AAPL, Tech30) Pay and other mobile payment services have made consumers more ready to accept biometric technology for paying bills and banking.