News

Previer says money remittances at ATMs can increase cash deposits

May 12, 2009

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Privier Inc. provides payment solutions to financial institutions that offer funds-transfer services to banked and unbanked consumers using existing ATM infrastructures. Using that technology, Privier now is working with FIs to encourage cash deposits at ATMs that can be used for money remittances to friends and family.

According to a news release issued by Privier, cash-recycling technology at ATMs will enable not only remittances, but also will lead to a reduction in ATM cassette replenishment. In Korea, Japan and China, cash-recycling technology is more accepted than it is today in North America. About 60 percent of ATMs in Korea are cash recycling, and ATM users there are very accustomed to depositing cash at the ATM.

Even with deposit automation, people are not depositing cash right now in the U.S., and one has to have the cash part to make cash recycling viable, said Charles Polanco, chief executive of Privier. But that may soon change in the U.S. as banks and credit unions encourage the general public to use off-premise ATMs to remit funds to friends and family.

Privier has developed a patented ATM-remittance technology called Privier Self-serv, which leverages envelope-free ATMs with Lexis/Nexis InstantID's Q&A technology to create the world's first cash-to-cash remittance service that requires no enrollment.

To use the technology, an FI must place two buttons or options on the ATM screen — one for sending cash and the other for picking up cash. When a user chooses one of the options, she is prompted to enter a Social Security Number. InstantID's Q&A then prompts the user to authenticate her identity using challenge questions. If the user is sending cash, the ATM counts the cash and prints out an ATM receipt with transaction details and a unique withdrawal code.

"Our remittance technology can increase cash deposits at the ATM, which can make cassette replenishment less frequent," Polanco said.