The present invention is a system and method of biometric-based identity verification for authorizing financial transactions between a consumer and a merchant, said system comprising distributed processing to facilitate biometric matching and various types of financial transactions to facilitate said system's integration into current financial networks. System users register at least one biometric identifier, personal and/or business identity-verifying data, and financial account information. A user presents a biometric sample obtained from the user's person and the user's system ID number to conduct financial transactions. This data is used to authenticate the user's identity and authorize transfer of funds from the user's registered financial account to the designated recipient's account by matching the presented transaction biometric with at least one registered biometric template and without the use of a man-made financial account token or identity token.