The European Payments Council is pushing for same-size cassette standardization for the continent's estimated 400,000 ATMs in an effort to cut costs, Finextra reported in an article.
In 2008 the total cost of accepting, distributing, managing, handling, processing and recycling cash was 84 billion euros, which equals about 0.6 percent of Europe's gross domestic product, or 130 euros per person.
The EPC's goal with the standardization plan is to make storage in transit and at centers more efficient, in order to reduce the number of trips to and from the ATM. Secondly, the EPC believes the move would make Intelligent Banknote Neutralization Systems (note staining, in the event of a robbery) easier to implement.
The EPC has already had preliminary discussions with ATM manufacturers, IBNS developers and cash-in-transit firms and is now working toward specific proposals.
