By Jo Best, 19 May 2005 17:10
NEWS UK consumers withdrew more than £1tr from cash machines in the last decade but Joe Public has strong feelings about the hole-in-the-wall - and he'd rather do without technological bells and whistles.
The Association for Payment Clearing Services (Apacs) has announced that the trillion-pound network of ATMs is growing fast, with 2004 witnessing the largest ever increase in the number of cash machines in the UK. Following the addition of 8,000 cash machines last year, there are now in excess of 50,000 scattered across the country.
Apacs also attributed the rise in the number of people using cash machines on a regular basis down to a change in the government benefits payment system as well as the introduction of new functionality on ATMs, such as mobile phone top-up facilities.
A study released today from analyst house Forrester Research found consumers are highly apathetic towards the introduction of any further functionality on their cash machines.
Just 18 per cent of consumers said they would use cash machines to make third-party payments if the facility was introduced, while a mere 10 per cent said they are interested in getting information on other banking products, such as loans, from an ATM.
Comments
There are 4 comments. Join the discussion
1. Mike W
Why can't we put 'cash' onto our cards like they can in France and Belgium ?
The introduction of Chip&PIN in the UK was a missed opportunity.
2. Russ
Adding new services such as lons? No!
The whole point of ATMs is that you can just cash out quickly and easily. On a Friday night when you need a few notes for the pub, you don't want to be queueing behind some moron applying for a mortgage or transferring money to Liechtenstein.
Cash and top-ups only please...
3. Roger Huffadine
A "twit" at Lloyds TSB decided that after entering your PIN at an ATM to withdraw CASH you should be forced to answer the question "Would you like to top up your MOBILE PHONE?"
My initial reaction was a screaming fit and a rant about ATMs being CASH machines .....more ....
It looks like I wasn't the only one to point this out to Lloyds as the silly screen was withdrawn after a month.
Banks need to understand that ATMs are really viewed by most of us as "Cash Machines" they can call them "MTMs" [mobile top up machines] if they want but we the great unwashed just want money out of the wall.
I'm gobsmacked that it took 'research' to discover this - maybe the industry needs to use a consultant with a PhD in the art of stating the bleedin obvious - like me ;)
4. anonymous
In answer to Mike W. why do you want prepay cash cards. Pre Pay cards make the issuer pots of money in interest and in dead cash from lost and stolen cards and cards sitting at the bottom of drawers with unused credit. Banks have invested heavily in this sort of technology (anyone remember Mondex) and it never caught on. Why didn't they just apply the same technology to credit and debit cards to make it easier to buy your paper and latte with one of those ?