Technology used for tracking tanks in the desert has been adapted to create an eye-catching new type of cash machine.

Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, is about to start customer trials of "iris recognition technology" - cash machines which are capable of recognising an individual's unique "eye print".

If it catches on, the new system could eventually end the need for people to have to use a personal identification number (PIN) to access their cash.

Nationwide will be installing special cameras at a cash machine and at the counter of the branch at its Swindon head office early next year. The camera captures a digital record of a person's iris - the coloured part of the eye - a part of the body that is unique and constant throughout a person's life.