Banks to allow account access using fingerprint tech

Two british banks are to allow their customers access their account just by the use of finger print.

RBS and NatWest customers must activate the feature with their security information, but would only need to use Apple's Touch ID thereafter.

The banks said that, after three failed login attempts, customers would have to re-enter their passcodes.

But a security expert expressed concern that Touch ID is not secure enough.

The banks, both part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, said that the feature would be available on the iPhone 5s, 6 and 6 Plus. Customers would have to enable the feature using their existing login details.

Some of the in-app features used to pay money that required additional verification would continue to do so and limits were set on new payments, the banks said.

They said that around 880,000 of their customers currently use the apps on those handsets.

The feature, which uses fingerprint recognition to grant access to iPhones, was criticised soon after it was introduced with the launch of the iPhone 5 in 2013.

A group of hackers managed to get around it only a day after the launch by making a fake finger from a photograph of a fingerprint left on a glass surface.

While Apple insisted that TouchID was secure, it said it was not a total replacement for traditional security measures and was meant to make unlocking the phone more convenient. In a similar vein, the banks have now said they wanted to make it "even easier and more convenient for customers".