According to the present invention, a financial transaction processing system comprises an identification article having recorded thereon certain identifying personal information relating to or being the holder's signature and/or bodily feature(s) and serves to identify the holder. The system further comprises a processing means for processing a financial transaction. The processing means includes reading means for reading the information recorded on the identification article; collecting means for collecting identifying personal information of a type similar to that recorded on the identification article, from a person presenting the identification article for processing of a transaction; a comparing means for comparing the identifying personal information obtained from the reading means with that obtained from the collecting means; and a processing unit which in use processes the required transaction only when the identifying personal information obtained from the reading means corresponds to that obtained from the collecting means. The invention also relates to a processing means suitable for use in such a system.
