Things like checking the latest headlines, keeping an eye on the markets, trolling for music downloads and purchasing theater tickets are pretty typical home-computer transactions in the new millenium. But have you thought about doing any of those things at an ATM?
The next generation of Web-enabled automated teller machines is already bringing a higher level of functionality to bank customers overseas. People in Spain who bank with Caja Madrid can buy movie tickets at the ATM; UniCredito customers in Italy can add value to their mobile phone cards; and in Singapore, stocks and bonds have been sold on ATMs since the mid-1990s at the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation.
The U.S., however, has been considerably more conservative about the ways ATMs are used, but that may be changing.
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Wells Fargo has run movie trailers; INTRUST has partnered with Coca-Cola on ATM coupon campaigns for Disney World and Universal Studios; and Fidelity Investment Corporation has had the "no envelope" deposit with your check image on receipt technology in place since 2000.
And soon, Fleet Bank customers will be able to access the same personalized banking functions as they can from their online service HomeLink on the bank’s new Advanced ATMs, set to be rolled into service next month. The first will be in the New York area, with more added in metro Boston this fall. By year’s end, Nandita Bakhshi, director of deposit/payments product group at Fleet expects there will be 150 Web-enabled ATMs in service.
"The biggest change is the interface is very intuitive – it’s personalized to the customer," she said.
From the same customized screen menu they use for online banking from home, customers will be able to access services such as bill payment and view the balances of each of his or her accounts, make transfers and perform other functions without going through multiple transactions. Language choice – Fleet offers seven – will still be offered as a setting.
"The whole relationship pops up on the screen," Bakhshi said. "It’s our way of saying ‘We recognize you.’"
Bakhshi said the only non-financial function the ATMs will offer, at least for the foreseeable future, will be postage stamp sales.
Perhaps the biggest reason banks are switching their ATMs to Web-enabled Microsoft Windows technology (older ATMs run on IBM’s OS/2 platform) is to unify the systems that provide customers with account information, according to Rob Evans, director of industry marketing at Ohio-based NCR Corporation. NCR manufactures one of every three ATM machines produced.
Because Web-enablement allows each information channel (a bank’s in-house computer system, its Web site, telephone lines and ATMs) can be supported by the same system – which is often not the case – customers can get up-to-the-minute, consistent information regarding accounts.
Still, Providence-based Bancorp Rhode Island, parent of BankRI, has decided to stick with the more traditional ATM functions, opting instead for Internet cafes in branches in Woonsocket and Providence and a 24-hour kiosk to allow online banking at the branch on Cranston’s Park Avenue.
"We don’t want to tie up the ATMs with Internet traffic," said Stephen Turgeon, vice president of corporate communications for BankRI.
The 50 to 75 new ATMs Citizens Bank has installed in the past year are Web-ready, and even though they are currently operating with only the basic functions, Vice President of Electronic Banking Jack Coffey said expanded functionality hasn’t been ruled out for the future.
One reason Citizens has not yet taken the plunge, Coffey said, is the expense.
"It’s not so much the hardware, it’s getting the infrastructure built," he said.
Feedback from customers has also influenced Citizens’ current course of action. Coffey said that Citizens’ customers are primarily interested in accessing funds and making financial transactions.
But for Bakhshi and Evans, the future of banking is in creating an environment where customers can help themselves.
According to results from Fleet’s focus groups and research, "customers want self-service – the same service they want from the branch," said Bakhshi.
The future of ATMs and their capabilities, Evans predicted, is "complete inclusion of full banking services – anything a teller can do. The next step is additional content, things that are not necessarily up the bank’s alley."
