Banks from around the world are looking into the new, ‘cardless’ ATM, providing customers with speedier and more secure transactions.
The cardless ATM has been gaining interest in dozens of U.S. banks installing new ATMs and updating existing ones. These new ATM will allow for customers to order cash on a mobile application and then scan a code to get their money without ever inserting a bank card.
Banking giants like Wells Fargo, Bank of American and Chase are currently in the process of deploying these new ATMs.
Bank of American spokesperson, Betty Riess, claims the bank giant is currently developing a new cardless ATM solution that will allow customers to authenticate without the use of a card. They’re set to install the new ATMs in Silicon Valley, Charlotte, San Francisco, New York and Boston and will announce a broader customer launch in mid-2016.
Chase is said to be planning a similar rollout where customers will request an access code through the Chase mobile app and enter it at the ATM to do their transactions. They’ll later focus on using the digital mobile wallet to complete the transaction.
Wells Fargo is also on board and is currently developing ATMs that will allow customers to use their phones to obtain the eight digit PIN necessary to authorize a cash withdrawal. The Wells Fargo system will support Android Pay and possibly other avenues down the road.
One company is taking an even more different approach to the ATM- Headless ATMs. These are ATMs without a screen or keypad that dispense cash from interaction on the smartphone. Customers only need to verify their identity, which can be done through a device fingerprint scanner or even an iris scanner on the ATM.
According to Dave Kuchenski, Diebold’s Senior Business Development Manager, “If we’re using a mobile phone, we no longer have the need for a card, we no longer have a need for a receipt printer, we’ve dematerialized a lot of the devices. Banks like this, because it has fewer moving parts, so it reduces the total cost of ownership.”
These new ATMs are said to reduce a lot of vulnerabilities found in our current ATMs and will, in turn, reduce skimming fraud. The problem with card skimming, where criminals steal data on a card, is that this issue costs the banking industry billions, in fact, in 2015 card skimming cost the banking industry some $2 billion.
Not only will this implementation reduce the vulnerabilities associated with traditional ATMs, these new ATMs will also reduce the time spent per transaction. Authenticating a transaction on the smartphone reduces the time spent at an ATM to around 10 seconds instead of the typical 30-40 seconds spent.
While the recent US implementation of the EMV standard continues, many guess that consumers are growing frustrated with these security chipped cards, which unlike magnetic stripes which are swiftly swiped, the EMV card must remain in the reader until the transaction is complete.
As every aspect of our daily lives becomes more and more digitalized, it’s important to understand what risks and benefits come along with these technologies. Securing our sensitive personal information is important for financial theft, identity theft, credit scores, etc. As technology continues to evolve, so should we, and if introducing new ATMs will help better secure our financial credentials then it’s best for businesses to adopt these new practices to help secure consumers sensitive banking information.
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