STRATEGIC PARTNERS
January 3, 2002
TOKYO -- Hitachi Ltd., which already sells ATMs to financial institutions in Japan, will begin selling machines to financial institutions in the rest of Asia, according to a report distributed by the Nikkei English News Service.
Hitachi, the third largest ATM manufacturer in Japan, aims to sell 20,000 machines abroad over the next three years and earn 20 billion yen from sales to Asia in fiscal 2003.
Hitachi is looking to sell ATMs elsewhere in Asia as demand for ATMs in Japan declines due to lower capital investment by local financial institutions struggling to eradicate bad loans.
The new Hitachi ATMs can identify the Japanese yen, Chinese yuan, dollar, euro and other currencies. Hitachi also plans to market its note identification equipment to other ATM manufacturers.
Japanese companies have been slow to produce ATMs for other Asian markets because of the high cost of developing currency identification equipment.
