Barclays has announced that it will be introducing a finger scanner to be used for online banking in the UK.

Barclays has teamed up with Hitachi to create the biometric reader which uses the tech company's Finger Vein Authentication Technology, or Vein ID as it's also known. This uses veins, rather than fingerprints, which is far more secure.

The biometric reader will connect to a computer via USB and will allow Barclays users to access their online banking or authorise payment by simply touching the scanner. That's right, no more pins, passwords or authentication processes.

Initially the fingerprint scanner will only be available to Barclays corporate customers, from 2015.

The scanner uses vein patterns to recognise individuals which is more secure than fingerprints as it requires the user to be alive and pumping blood. So even cutting off a person's finger wouldn’t be enough to gain access to their accounts – as sci-fi would have had us believe.

Ashok Vaswani, CEO Barclays Personal and Corporate Banking, said: " We have shown the technology to a range of businesses and the interest and enthusiasm for the product is tremendous. The technology has also been tested by Hitachi for many years and it will be game-changing for UK businesses and consumers."

When this technology reaches consumers hasn't been announced but we'd expect it later in 2015, after the corporate customers have had fun testing.

READ: MOTA SmartRing with touchscreen and wireless charging can be yours for $75