ATMIA 26th Annual US Conference

Can an ATM be a destination?

Can an ATM be a destination? It can if it adds advanced features.

Photo: Adobe Stock

February 25, 2025 by Bradley Cooper — Editor, ATM Marketplace & Food Truck Operator

Banks are looking to expand their physical footprint without necessarily creating new branches. One such strategy is deploying retail ATMs that meet customers where they are.

In a session at the ATMIA conference held in Orlando from Feb. 5 to 7, John Campbell, IV, VP of business development and Peter Kulik, president of FCTI Inc. discussed how ATMs can act as a destination to deliver financial services in a convenient manner.

Early on, Kulik said that he believed back in 2002 that it would be difficult to add features such as advertising, check deposit, bill pay, video banking and other services. But this has completely changed.

Now ATMs run on Windows, have remote software distribution, include NextGen ATM architecture, NFC and many more features. With these features, independent deployers can create ATMs that bring in net new traffic into a store such as a 7-Eleven or Speedway just to use the ATM.

When looking at what consumers want from ATMs, Campbell said consumers are bored by many of the traditional ATM services and want other services.

"COVID showed everyone in this industry we can't be solely tied to EFT transactions," Campbell said.

Bank services in general are stale to many customers as in many areas they have remained static for up to 20 years. Customers want a variety of services beyond basic transactions such as:

• Consumer and merchant deposits.
• Mobile wallet integration.
• Contactless transactions.
• Bill payments.

He also added that customers are looking for more niche services such as:

• Micro-loans.
• Multi-currency transactions.
• Lottery redemptions.
• P2P money transfers.

These type of services are key to differentiate yourself as a deployer from other ATM companies.

Campbell said that ATM deployers need to be able to tell retailers that they aren't just there to spit out cash but to "provide services."

But what will this ATM as a destination look like? First of all, it needs to meet customer expectations. It needs to be interactive and deliver more tools, such as for the unbanked or underbanked.

Campbell gave the example of an ATM taking the role of a Western Union to enable cross-border payments being sent to family back home for migrant workers.

Campbell emphasized that if all you do is "spit out cash" and that transaction volume goes down over time, the machine will go away.

While Kulik said in the past this wasn't possible, now it is with tools such as cash-in, APIs and NextGen ATMs.

"Now it's just a willingness to go forward with these new transactions," Campbell said.

The goal here should be to future proof ATMs. Another tool to make this possible is cash recycling. Click here for more information on cash recycling.

About Bradley Cooper

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Bradley Cooper is the editor of ATM Marketplace and Food Truck Operator. He was previously the editor of Digital Signage Today. His background is in information technology, advertising, and writing.

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