LONDON -- Ian Bain, the new executive director of the European chapter of the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), wants to help the trade group become more like the UK's popular Arsenal football team.

"You never see their players hogging the ball. They always go to the player in the best position to score," Bain said.

Continuing with the sports analogy, Bain said he sees himself as the coach of ATMIA Europe, a position he assumed last month. Bain will report to Mike Lee, ATMIA's international director, who earlier this month relocated from London to South Africa. From his new base, Lee is developing ATMIA chapters for Africa and Australasia.

Much like the Arsenal coach, Bain wants to encourage "a cooperative mindset, not a competitive one" among ATMIA Europe members.

Ian Bain

"I would describe the industry as a cake or pie," he said. "You cut into it, and on one side you have all of the normal competitive issues. On the other side, you have issues like security where you need a degree of cooperation to be able to compete."

One of Bain's immediate game plans is making the association more relevant to financial institutions (FIs).

Bringing in the banks

Bain sees the addition of FIs to ATMIA Europe's rolls as a key to the group's continued expansion. Despite the growing presence of independents in the UK, banks dominate ATM deployment across the Continent.

"If I was an FI and looked at the Web site, I might think it was oriented toward independents and vendors. And most FIs get enough vendors calling on them at work," Bain said.

Yet ATMIA's strong vendor representation can work in the group's favor, he said, noting that perhaps a referral program could be established in which vendors could offer discounts or other incentives for FIs that bring other FIs to the association.

A 14-year veteran of NCR whose accounts included banks in the UK and the Middle East, Bain believes the best way to attract more FIs to the ATMIA is to make it a clearinghouse for information on issues of interest to all, such as ATM security.

ATMIA has already made headway, chiefly through its work with the UK's ATM Security Working Group, which has developed a database of ATM crimes and produced a set of recommended security guidelines for standalone ATMs. The ATMIA has also published an ATM Lifecycle Security Checklist created by Lachlan Gunn, director of security consulting firm BenAlpin Limited. Since its inception in late 2000, ATMIA Europe has hosted two conferences devoted to security issues.

ATMIA North America plans to present a one-day workshop on security at its upcoming conference in Miami March 4-7. In the U.S., the ATMIA is also working closely with an ATM Integrity Task Force created by the Electronic Funds Transfer Association (EFTA).

Bain said that pending regulatory changes such as Triple DES encryption offer an opportunity for the ATMIA to attract new members, including FIs.

"I know there were certain times when my presence was truly valuable as an account manager (for NCR). They were times like Y2K and the euro conversion. We have a similar opportunity here," he said. "Triple DES and other regulatory issues carry more weight with deployers right now than ATM advertising or other possible new revenue streams. The fear of loss is a stronger motivator than the possibility of gain."

Beyond the borders

Bain said that a key area of differentiation for ATMIA compared to other European trade groups like the British Bankers' Association is its membership from across the Continent. He hopes to recruit at least one individual or company from each country to serve on an advisory council. He's even interested in expanding the scope of ATMIA Europe to include the Middle East, which he categorizes as a technologically advanced ATM market.

"We have to be quite culturally sensitive. We don't want to approach individual markets and assume they are going to be the same," he said. "Yet we should accept that there are benefits in diversity, and that there are things we can learn from each other."

Bain seems less interested, however, in opening ATMIA membership to other industries.

"Any self-service device with a cash dispenser inside it is an ATM, and that's always going to be the biggest value to the consumer," he said. "If you can draw in the consumer with cash, you might then be able to add other services. But I believe it's the cash that will keep the consumer coming back."

Bain has Lee's vote of confidence.

"We were looking for someone who knows our business intimately, especially in the UK and Europe, and who has extensive contacts of relevance to our business objectives in this region. It was during the second round of interviews that I began to believe that Ian was our man, who could wear the two hats of business development and industry involvement necessary in the position of running our UK and European chapter," he said. "Here was someone strong, trustworthy and self-driven, with a proven track record, and a passion for self-service, who could carry ATMIA Europe forward."