WASHINGTON, D.C. -- ATM National LLC, which plans to create a network providing customers of financial institutions with little or no ATM presence with surcharge-free access to ATMs owned by large deployers (See related story Building on the installed base), says it has executed letters of intent with institutions representing 2.4 million debit cards and ATM deployers representing 13,000 ATMs.
Under the ATM National model, card issuers will pay a fixed monthly fee to participate in the network, with deployers receiving a monthly payment from ATM National as compensation for participation. Deployer membership will be on a regionally exclusive basis, with one or two major deployers participating in each region of the country.
Ben Psillas, ATM National's president, said the two ATM owners that have signed letters of intent will not give his company the national scope it desires but will provide "pretty good coverage." Psillas' goal is to create a nationwide network with at least 30,000 ATMs.
According to Psillas, the card issuers involved represent a balance between the traditional credit union and community banks and non-traditional institutions such as Internet banks, insurance companies and brokerages.
Psillas said that ATM National is developing its infrastructure and expects to launch a pilot in the third quarter of 2002.
"The market's response to a new national surcharge-free network not only validates our business model but also that more and more financial institutions will pay for their customers to receive surcharge-free transactions at foreign ATMs," Psillas said.
