News

World Cup boosts CashAxcess ATM transactions

September 1, 2010

The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicked up ATM transactions for CashAxcess, an independent ATM deployer based in South Africa that is owned by First Data Corp.

South Africa hosted the World Cup from June 11 to July 11 at nine football (soccer) stadiums throughout the country.

CashAxcess, which is based in Cape Town, operates 181 ATMs that are deployed in bank lobbies or are through-the-wall machines. First Data SA, which is in Gauteng, deployed the ATMs with three unnamed banks, which the company called bank “A” and bank “B&C.”

“These are three actual banks, but we cannot name them publicly for confidentiality reasons,” said Helen Owen, communications director for First Data in Europe Middle East Africa.

During the month-long tournament, won by Spain, there were 243,803 transactions at bank “A’s” ATMs, an increase of 36.70 percent compared with 178,341 transactions for the same two-month period last year. Bank “B&C” reported 100,134 transactions in June and July, up 5.50 percent compared with 94,900 transactions during the same period last year.  

The figures represent transactions rather than value, Owen says.  She added, however, that the average cash withdrawal at a CashAxcess ATM during the World Cup was R450 (U.S. $62.11). The Rand is South Africa’s currency.

CashAxcess did not deploy any of its ATMs in the stadiums. “No ATMs were deployed in the football stadiums, but some are located around the areas of the stadium,” Owen said.

CashAxcess is the second ATM deployer based in South Africa to report that the World Cup, the world’s largest sports event, boosted ATM transactions. Spark ATM Systems, which is also based Cape Town, reported that average cash withdrawals increased during the tournament. Spark ATM System deploys ATMs in off-premises locations.

First Data, a payment processor based in Atlanta, purchased CashAxcess in August 2009.