CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Five of the world's largest financial institutions -- Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Scotiabank and Westpac -- have launched the first Global ATM Alliance to create financial services expressly for their customers who travel internationally.
The group's first major initiative will be to offer their combined customer base free access to more than 20,000 cash machines on three continents.
The Global ATM Alliance will make cash withdrawals free of international access fees through a combined network of ATMs to the 36 million customers of the five institutions. Customers of the five banks can begin using the alliance's cash machine network without charge on July 1.
The network of ATMs is located throughout the U.S., the UK, Germany, Canada and Australia. Bank of America has more than 12,000 ATMs in the U.S., Barclays has more than 3,000 ATMs throughout the UK, Deutsche Bank has more than 1,800 machines in Germany, Scotiabank has more than 2,100 ATMs in Canada, and Westpac has more than 1,500 machines in Australia.
"This strategic partnership is a world first for global customer service and marks the beginning of a multinational cooperation within the cash machine industry. Going forward, we expect to add new partners to offer this service in many more of the world's countries," said Bond Isaacson, payments executive, Bank of America.
In the coming months, the alliance plans to expand its service coverage to include its international ATMs (more than 2,500 ATMs in 58 countries) and actively pursue other members, targeting Mexico, Spain, Asia, South America and South Africa.
