Article
Wincor Nixdorf vies for market share
How the No. 2 ATM manufacturer is trying to secure its spot.
June 4, 2008 by Tracy Kitten — Editor, AMC
Click here to see a slide show from the event.
Stefan Auerbach says "emotional banking" and a high-level focus on user experiences and customer service is the way of banking's future.
The executive vice president of banking for Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf International says financial institutions throughout the world are working to attract more customers to their branches by playing on their emotions.
"The bank tries to understand the customer, to figure out how it can create emotion," he said to a group of European bankers last week in Lisbon, Portugal. "This requires strong customer-relationship management and an understanding of branch design."
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Wincor treated guests to some of Portugal's most intriguing scenes. |
Service and technology. Each plays a critical role in the banking environment, Auerbach said, and Wincor Nixdorf's focus on both is helping it secure large banking customers across the globe.
Last week, the $2.5 billion company announced its overtaking of Diebold Inc. as the second-largest ATM manufacturer in the world based on shipments. Wincor Nixdorf now trails only NCR Corp.
The announcement came after the release of new ATM-shipment data from Retail Banking Research Ltd., which collected ATM totals from between 700 and 1,000 banks.
RBR's Dominic Hirsch said the study included about 500 European banks and about 500 banks outside Europe. It also included estimated shipment totals provided by the ATM manufacturers themselves.
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That said, tracking ATM shipments for the United States, where Diebold continues to rein No. 1, is difficult, Hirsch said, since the U.S. market has far too many FIs to track.
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A Papelaco ATM, likely between six and seven years old. Advanced functions, such as bill-payment, are offered. |
But for Wincor Nixdorf, the news quickly made headlines, and Auerbach credited product-and-services growth in Asia and the Americas for the success.
Indeed, consulting and services are quickly becoming strategic focuses for the ATM manufacturer. The company has an all-inclusive outsourced servicing-and-maintenance deal with Netherlands-based ABN AMRO. Wincor Nixdorf now oversees all of the bank's ATM operations as well as the bank's entire cash-management cycle.
The arrangement has helped ABN AMRO cut costs and focus on other aspects of its business, saying simply, "We don't care who runs our ATMs," as long as the experience is reliable and consistent for ABN AMRO customers.
Wincor Nixdorf says the arrangement has set a servicing benchmark for European banks, and the company soon expects the trend to take off in the United States, where banks are being forced to cut costs.
Today, about 41 percent of Wincor Nixdorf's business comes from software and service; the remaining 59 percent is hardware-driven.
"We can help banks optimize processes," said Eckard Heidloff, Wincor Nixdorf's chief executive. "This is something we can do worldwide, but we also can customize the solutions for specific markets and countries."
From a hardware/product standpoint, a number of Wincor Nixdorf's European customers are investing in coin/cash-recycling and deposit-automation technology. Switzerland-based UBS AG is one such customer.
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NCR is just re-entering the Portuguese market. This ATM is thought to be NCR's first new installation, located at a Deutsche Bank in Lisbon, Portugal. |
One of the largest financial firms in the world, UBS in 1998 began piloting cash recycling on 12 of its branch ATMs. Today, the bank has 315 recycling ATMs in its network.
"We are migrating more transactions to self-service," said Dorothee Borer, executive director of the bank. "Today, we have about 60,000 transactions per terminal."
In its home country of Switzerland, UBS offers traditional banking services, which differs a bit from the investment services it's known for in other markets.
Coin recycling wasn't of much interest to UBS, but to Banque Populaire in France, it was.
In France, about 10 million coins are in circulation, and coin-handling is an expensive process. Automating coin-acceptance with self-service, has helped the bank cut internal costs.
ATMs in Portugal
In Portugal, cash-recycling also is quickly getting bankers' attention. And in a market that's well known for its self-service functions, cash-recycling ATMs are bringing excitement.
And so are some other changes, such as ATM suppliers' renewed interest in the Portuguese market.
For Wincor Nixdorf, Portugal, like other markets where it is working to have a more noticeable presence, is a focus.
"We have a small market share in Portugal, but we are working on building the market," Heidloff said. "I believe the branch will become more central, even in markets where self-service is more prominent, such as in Portugal."
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More sights from Portugal. |
For NCR, the market shows potential, and for Diebold, which maintained a presence in Portugal alongside Papelaco, the market remains interesting. In fact, Diebold is thought to be one of the unofficial runners in line for the anticipated sale of the Papelaco business, which in 2002 was acquired by De La Rue.
On May 22, De La Rue, in a statement regarding shareholder value and preliminary financials, confirmed that it is considering a sale of its cash-systems business, which includes Papelaco. Further, the company says "discussions are ongoing, which may or may not lead to a sale."
Asia, Australia & PacificPublic CompaniesMiddle East & AfricaTrends / StatisticsCentral and Eastern EuropeTransaction ProcessingRetail / Off-PremisesBank SecurityComponentsDebit / CreditRemote ManagementNorth AmericaLatin AmericaBank / Credit UnionBranch TransformationSoftwareDiebold NixdorfWincor Nixdorf International
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