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Japanese bank trying to earn money with off-site ATMs

October 25, 2004

Japan Times Online: Banking group Resona Holdings Inc., which was bailed out by the government in July 2003 and is under pressure to return 3.13 trillion yen in public funds, has begun setting up ATMs in unconventional places in an effort to boost its profits.

By the end of September, Resona had 526 ATMs outside of its branches in the Kanto and Kansai regions, including three ATMs at Hanshin Race Course in Hyogo Prefecture and five at an off-track betting center for horse racing in Tokyo's Korakuen district. As many as 80,000 people gather at the betting center on Sundays when there is a major race.

Resona had not considered horse-racing facilities before, spokesman Takehiko Komiya said. "In the past, we just set up ATMs around train stations," he said. "But some of them turned out to be unprofitable."

Komiya said a bank can earn profits from its ATMs if it pinpoints busy streets and installs machines where people congregate. In Japan it usually costs more than 100 yen to withdraw money via another bank's ATM.

Resona is considering installing ATMs in some outlets of Yoshinoya D&C Co., which operates a chain of restaurants serving "gyudon" beef-on-rice dishes. In a tie-up agreement struck earlier this month, Yoshinoya provides Resona with information about properties that can be leased jointly by both firms or that are too small for a Yoshinoya outlet but big enough for a Resona ATM.

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