Tangerine, formerly known as ING DIRECT in Canada, said Wednesday that its biometric offering would modernize "everyday banking" for its smartphone-toting customers. Clients using its mobile banking app will be able to use their voice to conduct certain banking transactions and their fingerprint to log on.

The move into biometric banking comes at a time when at least 75% of Canadians are using smartphones, according to comScore Inc.  SCOR in Your Value Your Change Short position Banks, meanwhile, are investing heavily in technologies, such as mobile applications, to help give them a competitive edge with customers and to reduce costs.