As a person can generate different data each time his or her fingerprint is pressed, will this make it difficult to identify someone? The computer can use algorithms to identify the same person through the internal logical links between data, explained Chen Xiaofeng, CEO of Live by Touch, a technology provider for fingerprint payment systems used in Shanghai.

The dynamic nature of the fingerprint password makes it difficult to counterfeit. "Even today's most advanced computer cannot decipher these passwords in tens of thousands of years," Chen said. "The technologies we have can identify rubber fingerprints and other counterfeit attempts."

Chen admitted that fingerprint payment is not suitable to all individual accounts, for reliable identification is based on a healthy fingerprint. A small group of people, less than 1 percent of the population, might not have a fingerprint or might have a damaged fingerprint because of illness or friction in labor, Chen said. Sweat or dirt on the hand also has a small possibility of making a fingerprint unidentifiable.

When a fingerprint is not identifiable, the machine will refuse to make the payment, rather than making payment to the wrong person, Chen added. If one finger does not work, Chen suggested consumers try other fingers.

Chen, 31, was born, raised and educated in Shanghai. His business is also based in Shanghai. The only time he has been away from Shanghai for a long period was to enroll in the MBA program of Columbia University. One month after entering the university, Chen returned to Shanghai when the dean of the school told him business opportunities in China were at a peak and advised him to seize the opportunity. The dean agreed to defer Chen's admission for a year.

"The fingerprint payment technology we are using now is not learned from the United States, but was created by my company after I returned to China," Chen said. Before setting up the biometric technology company, Chen sold his own businesses, an Internet company and a media company that he had founded in Shanghai.

At the end of 2004, he invested $1 million and acquired two Chinese companies that accounted for 80 percent of the fingerprint technology product module market, and merged them into Live by Touch.

Chen's company is not the only fingerprint technology provider in China. Recently, at the 16th session of the annual China International Exhibition on Financial Banking Technology and Equipment, exhibitors displayed advanced financial equipment, software and solutions. The Complete Fingerprint Banking Solution and its accompanying products introduced by TCSY, a hi-tech company based in Beijing, won the Excellent Financial Equipment Award at the exhibition.

With the digitalization of banking services, the security threat to information collection, storage, transmission and access is mounting. Currently, the bankcard payment system has security loopholes, such as password leakage and theft, and loss of bankcards, which have given rise to lawsuits and economic losses.

TCSY's fingerprint solution is an answer to these thorny issues. The company spent three years and independently developed the SmartFPI fingerprint recognition platform.

This July, TCSY's fingerprint solution was put into operation in commercial banks in Tangshan City, Hebei Province. The solution has not only increased payment safety, but has also helped to speed up payment and lowered processing costs.