Cardless ATM withdrawals are emerging as a new way for banks to connect mobile banking with traditional ATM services. By allowing customers to use smartphones instead of debit cards to access cash, financial institutions can make ATM transactions faster and provide consumers with another convenient way to manage their accounts.
Wintrust Financial’s rollout demonstrates how banks can add mobile cash access capabilities to existing ATM networks through software rather than replacing the machines themselves. The technology also illustrates a broader trend toward greater integration between mobile banking and self-service banking channels.
Want to see just how profoundly the smartphone can change a trip to the bank ATM? Head to Madison Street in downtown Chicago.
Responding to the growing use of smartphones, Wintrust Financial is rolling out 190″cardless cash” ATMs that will give consumers the option of withdrawing cash using only their smartphones.
Wintrust, based in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, is riding a banking technology trend for 2015, according to Mercator Advisory Group. “We anticipate the increasing convergence of ATMs and mobile banking” in what’s commonly called cardless cash access or mobile cash access, the Maynard, Massachusetts-based consulting firm said in its newly released report “2015 Outlook: Banking Channels.”
To make the cardless-cash transactions possible on existing ATMs, the Wintrust machines are being outfitted with software from FIS, a technology provider to banks, retailers and payment processors. FIS said Wintrust is the first of its1,600 mobile-banking clients to roll out cardless cash on a widespread basis.
Mobile Banking and ATMs Begin to Converge
Recent advances in mobile banking and ATMs are presenting new opportunities for banking customers. One capability that is gaining interest is cardless cash access (also known as ATM prestaging and mobile cash withdrawal). This capability is good examples of the convergence of the ATM and mobile banking channel. Not only does it offer a way to withdraw cash without the need of a debit card, but it can significantly reduce the time to withdraw funds at an ATM.
Cardless ATM withdrawals demonstrate how financial institutions can use mobile technology to improve an established banking channel rather than replace it. Customers gain the convenience of accessing cash without a physical debit card, while transaction prestaging through a smartphone can reduce the amount of time spent completing a withdrawal at the ATM.
As mobile banking capabilities continue to expand, greater integration between smartphones and ATMs could create additional opportunities for financial institutions to improve self-service banking. Cardless cash access is one example of how banks can combine digital and physical channels to provide customers with faster, more convenient ways to access their accounts and complete everyday banking transactions.
Overview by Ed OBrien, Director of Banking Channels for Mercator Advisory Group
Read full story at Detroit News