This is despite the fact the cost of providing a biometric identification tool to every internet user is estimated at a monster $A700 million. According to a report in the Financial Review, Westpac has spoken with its competitors and expects customers to be using fingerprint or some other form of biometric identification within 18 months. While costs are high, the banking industry faces combined losses of more than $A100 million in credit card fraud this year because it failed to invest $A500 million on technology Visa and Mastercard are using.