Cash deposits at Absa, South Africa’s largest retail banking group, grew by an astonishing 223 percent during 2011, said a news report at thenewage.com.za.
Rising use of bulk note cash-accepting ATMs, of which there are now nearly 400 around the country, reveals an interesting trend in customer behavior, said Arrie Rautenbach, Absa’s head of retail markets.
“We are now seeing an average of 170,000 people depositing cash into these machines every month,” said Rautenbach.
Absa first installed cash acceptor ATMs across 52 terminals in a pilot program that began in December 2009. A further 112 cash acceptors were installed in 2010, followed by 221 last year.
Rautenbach said that the growth in cash deposits at these terminals was driven largely by the convenience they offer. Absa’s cash accepting ATMs are being enhanced with a functionality known as “Scan ‘n Pay”. It allows customers to scan bar-coded invoices from certain pre-registered service providers such as telecom companies and utilities at the cash accepting ATM and instantly pay these accounts.
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