Three million global ATMs and new ATM videoconferencing

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The ATM Industry Association predicted there would be 3 million ATMs across the globe by 2015 and the total number of withdrawals of cash from ATMs globally would rise to above 8.6 billion per year. For the U.S. and North America, RBR’s research showed the U.S. had 420,000 ATMs in 2009 and Canada had 58,217 but the number had risen to 481,000 together in 2010. RBR forecast the number of ATMs in Canada and the U.S. together to increase to 498,750 by 2015.

Instead of installing ATMs capable of only processing transactions, an increasing number of retail banks are tapping into ATMS with far more advanced functionality, including videoconferencing that connects customers with financial services experts working out of the bank’s central headquarters.

NCR, one of the primary manufacturers of ATMs, has developed much of the core technology that will drive this new customer experience in retail banking. NCR is working with a number of banking customers, including Wells Fargo, Bank of Montreal, First Hawaiian Bank, Akbank, Reliance Bank and Glenview State Bank to deploy NCR APTRA Interactive Teller kiosks.

The ultimate goals is to significantly shrink the physical size of the retail bank branch. Why are banks just now expanding the use of videoconferencing, a technology that has been around for decades?

Taylor attributes it to improved video compression, better network infrastructure and lower prices that make the use of videoconferencing more feasible in more situations. “The cost of delivering these services is now significantly less,” Taylor says. “In terms of staffing, this allows the bank to be more flexible.”