03 Dec 2007
Jane Searl, The Australian Financial Review
National Australia Bank will replace its 1600-strong ATM network by next September, transforming the machines from cash outlets to full service channels with the potential to sell insurance, trade shares and respond to customer enquiries.
The move differentiates NAB from other major banks, although Australia lags behind the world in the adoption of such technology. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group chief executive Mike Smith has been vocal about the need for Australian banks to benchmark themselves globally, pointing to Hong Kong ATM’s which enable share trading and French ones which approve mortgages. NAB has already introduced 370 of the new ATM's in the new Coles Express stores, and is aiming to replace 25 each week across its network.
The move is part of the bank’s retail strategy during the past 18 months, which has included the adoption of a local area of franchise model, new branch design and more lending specialists.“The ATM channel has not been the best channel for NAB”, said NAB’s regional general manger of consumer banking solutions, Andrew Maitland. “We had old machines and availability was not great. Customers demand we know more about them and this (technology) will give us information to better service them”.
The new ATMs can be personalised to remind customers their fixed rate home loan is about to expire, or in the case of rural machines, offer a drought donation option.
NAB has a seven-year contract with United States-based NCR to provide the internet- protocol technology and maintenance. NCR’s vice- president of financial solutions for the South Pacific, Ross Checkley, said Australia was about five years behind the US, Asia and Europe in the adoption of multi-function ATM’s. “Australia was one of the first countries to have ATM’s so we have a legacy infrastructure, while countries such as Turkey have (leapfrogged) us with technology,” he said.
Initially NAB’s ATMs will offer faster transactions, anti-skimming security and memory of individual withdrawal amounts. Mr Checkley said the mistake some overseas banks had made was offering every application on ATMs. “About 80 percent of volume will be on 20 percent of applications, so it’s very important to understand specific customer needs”, he said.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has completed a three-year upgrade of its 3300 ATMs similar technology NAB uses, but Mr Chekley said CBA had several different vendors- which meant no common platform if it chose to add more functionality. An ANZ spokesman said new ATM technology was on the bank’s two to three- year agenda given its 2600-strong network. Westpac said it was the first major bank to offer anti-skimming ATM technology.
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