News

ATM company gets new name, direction

Not all ISOs are trying to grow through consolidation. Financial Technologies, newly renamed FTI, is adding a new terminal and several new transactions to its business.

April 1, 2003

Tommy Glenn, president of FTI, isn't afraid to go for the brass ring -- even at the risk of falling off his horse.

So perhaps it's not coincidental that a prominent feature of FTI's new logo, unveiled late last week, is a gold ring. The company also announced a name change, from Financial Technologies, Inc. to FTI.

The ring, said Glenn, symbolizes FTI's goal "to be a company which never stops growing and never stops working to better meet the needs of its customers."

More transactions

Both the name and the logo are designed to reflect the company's new broader focus. FTI is moving beyond its ATM roots to become more of a transaction processor, Glenn said.

While FTI won't settle transactions in-house, it will resell the services of several companies that offer electronic services such as check conversion, check cashing, gift/loyalty cards, money transfers, money orders, prepaid cellular/long distance and credit/debit card processing.

Not all of the transactions will be delivered via the ATM. While vendors are working to add new functionality to the ATM, including money transfers and prepaid cellular and long distance, Glenn said that many retailers already offer those transactions at the point-of-sale. Some transactions, such as check conversion and debit, simply cannot be migrated to the ATM.

"We wanted to provide as many applications as we could, and you just can't do them all on an ATM," he said. "We wanted to be an ISO that can provide all of the electronic products."

FTI's sales force -- both in-house and agents -- will sell point-of-sale terminals manufactured by Hypercom. Glenn said the reps will be able to capitalize on relationships they have formed with retailers during their ATM sales calls.

Just adding another terminal to the mix isn't FTI's primary strategy, however.

All-in-one

Glenn hired software developers to create an application that will allow all of the services to be offered via a single device, which could eliminate the multiple POS terminals currently found behind most retail counters. FTI will also produce management reports for all of the services via its Web-based Sales Manager reporting system.

While all of the services -- check cashing, credit/debit processing, electronic check conversion with check guarantee, prepaid cellular/long distance, money orders, money transfers and gift/loyalty cards -- are available now, Glenn said they won't be combined on a single POS platform until later this year, probably in the third quarter.

Glenn believes most retailers will welcome the opportunity to consolidate all of their electronic services with a single provider and a single piece of hardware.

Bread and butter business

Make that two pieces of hardware. Glenn said he isn't concerned about cannibalizing his existing ATM business -- FTI has more than 4,100 ATMs under contract -- because he believes most retailers will want both kinds of terminals.

While he acknowledged that it's possible to offer cash back at the POS, he said cash dispensing works best at the ATM. Retailers can share ATM surcharge revenue, he said, while they must pay interchange on debit transactions.

At least two of FTI's business partners seem to agree.

Ken Rees, the chief executive of CashWorks, the Dallas-based company that provides check cashing services for FTI and several other ISOs, said in a December 2002 interview with ATMmarketplace that the POS is a logical place to offer services such as money transfer because many of those customers lack bankcards.
 
Customers cashing checks via CashWorks begin their transactions at a proprietary POS terminal called PayPort, and are directed to an ATM to collect their cash. While it's possible to cash checks using PayPort and drawing money from the till, Rees said the ATM provides added security and removes responsibility from the clerk.

Ron Ferguson, executive vice president of U.S. market development for Euronet, a Leawood, Kansas-based company that plans to provide prepaid cellular/long distance services for FTI and about a dozen other ISOs, said his company encourages them to offer the services to retailers at both ATMs and POS terminals.

"You want to cover just as much of that retail real estate as you can," Ferguson said.

Glenn said he's not sure if other ISOs will follow his lead. "It wasn't inexpensive getting to this point, and it took a lot longer than we expected," he said, noting that FTI hired outside software developers and consultants to help create its new program. The company also plans to hire more customer service representatives and other support staff.