Vietnam’s Mekong Development Bank has introduced a biometric debit card that can give banking services to the country’s unbanked population.

The card contains biometric fingerprint authentication provided by Temenos. Mekong incorporated its T24 biometric capabilities into the T24 system the bank already uses.

Mekong hopes to increase its number of accounts. Throughout the country, only 20% of the 86 million population has a bank account. Since its launch in June, Mekong has tripled its account base and doubled the deposit balance per debit card account compared to accounts without debit cards.

When a customer opens an account, the bank captures his fingerprints. The account holder then can use the debit card at any of the 33 NCR SelfServ ATMs around the country. The bank intends to expand the available touch points in the future.

The Temenos system took six months to implement and marks the company’s first biometric authentication project in Asia.