Diebold Inc. has announced the signing of a multiyear ATM outsourcing and deployment agreement with ZAO Citibank, a subsidiary of Citi in Russia.
According to a news release from Diebold, Diebold will provide ATM outsourcing services for a portion of Citibank Russia's ATM network, including ATM status monitoring, help desk, currency management and forecasting, cash handling and software distribution, along with various field maintenance services to Citibank. Diebold started providing ATMs to Citibank in Russia under a long-term agreement in the first quarter of 2010.
"Thanks to our outsourcing service, Citibank will obtain a single point of contact for dealing with its ATM operations, improving both the network's management efficiency and the client service quality," said Sergey Rasskazov, general manager for Diebold in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. "This will relieve the bank from engaging in the service support of the ATM network and will substantially lower its non-core operations expenses, allowing the bank to redirect and invest these resources into its principal business processes. Citibank's decision to choose ATM outsourcing is evidence of this positive trend in the Russian market."
Citibank's ATM network in Russia will be expanded with new Diebold Opteva 522 and full-function Opteva 328 models. At the same time, Citibank will not purchase the ATMs, as the equipment will be leased from Diebold as part of the outsourcing service agreement that will allow the bank to expand and update the ATM network without significant capital investments.
All ATMs will be connected to a single monitoring center that controls the network's operations and will monitor each device in real-time. Repair and modernization, software updates and replenishment of ATMs with disposable materials and cash will be fulfilled by Diebold's technical support divisions in Russia.
"Currently, Citibank owns more than 370 ATMs in Russian regions," said Sergey Larchenko, head of operations with private clients at Citibank Russia. "Most ATMs allow different operations with no queues at any time. The operations include cash deposit and withdrawal — even without using a credit card — as well as real-time credit to an account without using envelopes, utilities and communications payments, commercial TV payments, personal identification number changes and more. Adopting innovative technologies in the financial operations has always been one of Citibank's major advantages."
