Modern Banking for Older People
From: The Engineer (United Kingdom) - 03/25/2010
By: Siobhan Wagner

Newcastle and York University researchers are working with Barclays Bank to
develop assistive technology that could help older people feel more
comfortable with digital banking. According to Age Concern, 6 percent of
people aged 85 an up do not have a traditional bank account. Many of those
who do not have a traditional bank account have a special Post Office
account, which allows pensioners to withdraw money from a staff member at the
counter, says York project leader Andrew Monk. One idea for the new
technology is a wallet-shaped foldable display, with one half showing recent
transactions with dates and amounts, and the other half showing the current
balance. One major problem the research team is looking to solve is a means
for identifying oneself because many older people have trouble remembering
passwords and PIN numbers. The Bank of Maharashtra in India has already
designed assistive technology to deal with the issue. The bank recently
announced plans to install biometric ATMs, which enable older people to
access their bank accounts with a thumb impression instead of a PIN number. 

Read the entire article at:
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/news-analysis/modern-banking-for-older-people/1001479.article

Links:
Making a Net Neighbours Service
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~am1/Making.PDF

Net Neighbours
http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~mblythe/index_files/Page1932.html

Andrew Monk
http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~am1/

Centre for Usable Home Technology
http://www.cuhtec.org.uk/