St George to introduce fingerprint banking

St George Bank will become one of the first in the world to grant users access to mobile banking via their fingerprint alone.

From next month, users with an iPhone 5S will be able to verify their identity simply by placing their finger on the phone's fingerprint-scanning home button, sidestepping the need for passwords and passcodes.

It will be made possible via Apple's upcoming iOS8 software, expected to be released alongside new iPhone models in September.

More than half of the bank's 1.2 million digital customers use mobile-banking, with 15 per cent using the iPhone 5S.

The bank says the new function has been rigorously tested, and that no customer credentials will be stored on the device.

St George says the functionality will be extended to the Android platform via Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 in the coming months.

Rivals such as ANZ reportedly also have biometric plans in the pipeline.