News

PNC adds advanced ATMs to reduce teller costs

March 9, 2012

In a strategy to reduce operating costs, Pittsburgh-based banking giant PNC Bank is adding more sophisticated ATMs that it hopes will shift customers from the teller window to the terminal, said an article on post-gazette.com.

To help make some customers more comfortable with the idea of depositing a check into a machine, PNC is deploying more ATMs that stamp check images on customer receipts. The new machines also cash checks by dispensing the dollar amount and depositing the change into the customer's account.

PNC spokesman Fred Solomon said the bank currently operated dozens of the image-enabled machines in the Pittsburgh area, mainly at new or refurbished branches. PNC Senior Vice Chairman William Demchak said that by the end of the year PNC would have thousands of them located across the bank's 19-state footprint.

As it pushes customers to the ATM, PNC also is using new technology to help sell banking products and services at the machines, Demchak said.

For example, the bank is offering customers pre-approved credit cards through targeted "smart messages" that pop up on ATM screens. The acceptance rate so far is running about 3 percent, Demchak said, "which is way over what we get in direct mail response."

For more on this topic, visit our bank automation research center.