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ATM industry groups caution against unintended consequences of complicated regs

January 19, 2017

Increasingly, it seems, local governments are joining Congress and state legislatures in the rush to regulate retail ATMs. Industry trade groups are imploring them to slow down and think hard about the unintended consequences of their well-meaning proposals.

Last month in Cleveland, for instance, city council members introduced proposed regulations limiting cash stocks in retail ATMs to $2,000, "a requirement that could result in frequent and widespread out-of-cash conditions at city ATMs," the ATM Industry Association said in a press release.

Additionally, the legislation sought to regulate the placement and installation of ATMs, as well as security cameras, lighting, bollards, and GPS trackers in ATMs.

The ATMIA responded by letter to the proposal, explaining the ramifications of the regulations, including the additional security risks, and increased costs of doing business that would result, according to the press release.

More recently, the New York City Council proposed detailed ATM regulations concerning contracts with merchants, in addition to video surveillance, lighting (down to lumens per square foot) and daily (at a minimum) inspections for skimming devices.

Failure to comply with the NYC regulations would trigger a $200 fine for the first offense and a $500 fine for each infraction occurring within the following 24 months.

Representatives for both the ATMIA and the National ATM Council explained the various impracticalities of these requirements in a Jan. 12 public hearing on the proposal.

According to the ATMIA press release, Mike Keller, special counsel for Cardtronics and co-chair of the ATMIA government relations committee, testified on behalf of independent ATM deployers.

"We want regulations that make sense, and that do not put us at a competitive disadvantage to bank ATMs," Keller told the council. [ATMs are] a stand-alone economic unit. If they don't succeed economically for the merchant, they will disappear. And then the convenience for your consumers to have access to their cash will also disappear."

A press release from the NAC included testimony from executive director Bruce Renard about the proposal's implications for independents:

"[I]f enacted in its current form, the proposed ordinance would create sever unintended adverse consequences and untenable costs for New York's ATM businesses, merchants and consumers — without actually improving security for consumers or retail ATM services in the city," he told the council.

ATMIA US Executive Director David Tente said the association had subscribed two years ago to a regulatory and legislative monitoring service due to its concerns that ATM operators could be caught in stealth attacks by local governments.

"Had it not been for those alert services, the industry would indeed have been taken by surprise and may not have had an opportunity to provide important input to consideration of these measures," Tente said.

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ATM Industry Association (ATMIA)

The ATM Industry Association, founded in 1997, is a global non-profit trade association with over 10,500 members in 65 countries. The membership base covers the full range of this worldwide industry comprising over 2.2 million installed ATMs.

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