How you’ll soon be able to pay with your finger, access an ATM with your eyes.

In Jordan, you can walk up to a bank teller and get your eyes scanned in lieu of using a bankcard. In Japan, ATMs authenticate your identity using the vein patterns in your finger.

Digital evolution is upon us and financial companies are racing to become the first in the world to integrate biometrics — using human characteristics to verify the identities of customers — into our everyday transactions.

The Toronto-based Bionym, for example, recently announced that its heart-related technology will be the world’s first biometrically authenticated wearable payment solution; meanwhile, Tangerine recently bragged that it was the first bank in the country with a voice-controlled mobile app.

Maybe it’s our seemingly insatiable need for convenience and more time-saving measures, but consumers appear to be welcoming the technology. According to a report by the Deloitte Center for Financial Services, 72% of those surveyed would appreciate the use of biometric identification (such as fingerprints or eye scans) to enable a device for financial transactions.

Canadians already lead the world in Mastercard PayPass transactions, spending with just the tap of a card. Seventy-one per cent of Canadians are comfortable with never handling cash again, says a Leger Marketing survey for PayPal Canada.

Biometrics gives people more ways of doing what we need to do in our daily lives, says Charaka Kithulegoda, chief information officerwith Tangerine. “Most people would rather spend time with kids and family, do productive work than stand in line to pay a bill or deposit a cheque. Our view is if you can make those things seamless, help our customers manage their financial lives better and improve security, we think we’re heading in the right direction.”

Here’s a look at a few of the biometric technologies being developed and delivered to make banking as easy as the touch of a finger:

Put your heart into it

Bionym’s pilot project with Royal Bank of Canada outfits MasterCard clients with a wearable device worn on the wrist that read the heart’s unique electrical activity (ECG). You could therefore place your wrist over existing point-of-sale systems in lieu of your credit card and your heartbeat would be your authenticating password. Haven’t you always dreamed of buying something with the wave of your hand?

Banking on speech

TD Waterhouse uses a voice recognition system when you call; the system asks you to speak your phone number and you’re identified by your voice. Meanwhile, Barclays Bank in the U.K. uses a voice recognition program that analyzes your voice based on your phone conversation with the agent. (The service is offered to high net worth clients but will be rolled out next year for its millions of retail customers.) This saves you the hassle of answering security questions such as your postal code or your mother’s maiden name and is more secure against fraudsters, says Brett Beranek, director of product strategy, voice biometrics at Nuance which develops this technology. “It makes the caller experience so much more pleasant.”

When Tangerine unveiled voice technology on Oct. 1, it became the first Canadian bank to offer a voice-controlled mobile app. You can inquire about your balance and give instructions to send email money transfers or pay a bill. Later this year, it plans to unveil voice authentication, where you repeat a specific phrase to access your account. Now before you start thinking of your favourite pop culture phrases (“Where’s my money, b—-?” à la Breaking Bad’s Jesse Pinkman), you’ll likely have to repeat a standard phrase dictated by the bank.

Don’t worry about someone impersonating your voice. Your voice print is based on more than 100 characteristics, including pitch and accent, Mr. Beranek says.

TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty ImagesAn employee of Hitachi demonstrates the company's latest auto teller machine (ATM) using a biometric security system to read venous patterns of users' fingers.

Put your finger on something

Fingerprint identification is one of the most well-known biometrics. Police and national intelligence agencies have used fingerprint scanners for decades. Disney World in Florida takes an image of your finger and uses that instead of a ticket. Smartphones are equipped with fingerprint scanners to unlock your device. Tangerine recently introduced Touch ID, a fingerprint identity sensor, to allow you to log into your banking app. Other banks in the world are offering similar fingerprint authentication such as St. George Bank in Australia.

For your eyes only

Your eyes are not only a window to your soul, but to your bank account. Imagine walking up to an ATM machine and withdrawing money with a look. In 2008, Cairo Amman Bank became the first bank in the world to launch IrisGuard and installed iris recognition systems at branches and ATM locations in Palestine and Jordan. Customers are ditching bankcards in favour of eyes-only transactions.

Your name in vein

Finger or palm-vein authentication is used in Poland and Japan at banks, ATMs and safety deposit box centres. Almost 2,000 cash machines that let people scan their finger to withdraw cash without using a card or pin number were reportedly installed in Poland in May. The technology uses infrared light to read the vein pattern just below the skin surface. Lund University in Sweden introduced the vein scanning technique in stores and coffee shops so that users can pay for coffee or lunch by scanning their palms. Now that’s cash in your hand.