The future of the cash machine

I’ve blogged about the cash machine of the
future before, with BBVA coming up with the idea of side-facing screens.

Very nice too.

Recently I saw some other variations of the
cash machine, such as the new video ATMs being rolled out by banks such as
Dollar Bank in America.

And I thought ATM stood for AUTOMATED TELLER machine. 

Ah well, we just can’t get rid of those
tellers can we, although the Video Teller Machine might get rid of a few
branches.

Then the question is: will we ever get rid
of cash?

I’ve blogged lots about this before, and the answer is no.

Sweden is a leading example of the attempts
to get rid of cash, but it still has not eradicated its usage.

Cash represents only 3% of Sweden's economy
according to the Bank for International Settlements,
compared with 9% in the Eurozone and 7% in the USA.

That’s good for reducing robberies – the
number of bank robberies in Sweden plunged from 110 in 2008 to 16 in 2011 — but
it still means there is cash, and therefore cash machines (although it does
intrigue me find the cashless cash machine).

So what are the new forms of cash machine?

The QR machine.

The idea of this is that you preload your
cash request on a smartphone app, walk up to the ATM and then scan a QR code to
complete the transaction. 

No receipt of course, just a text message
to confirm everything transacted.

There’s also the same ATM in NFC form.  In this case, you just touch your phone to
the ATM rather than scan a code.

But what about the no screen and no code
ATM?

Well now I’ve seen everything, as there are
two or three of these knocking around.

For example, here’s NCR’s Pillar ATM.

The  Pillar ATM is
a freestanding ATM that features a fingerprint biometric sensor, pre-set cash
buttons, a cash dispenser and receipt printer.

The ATM is designed with accessibility and ease of
use in mind.

For example, you walk
up to this one and just place your thumb on the light reader and then push a button
for $10, $20, etc, based upon the light codes.

This version of the
Pillar ATM was created for rural areas in countries such as India and China, and
issues a receipt.

There’s then an NFC
version that has no receipt, just a text message to confirm you got the cash.

The NFC version works with the preloaded smartphone app described
earlier, and then you just walk up to the machine, place your phone on the
green light and hey presto, you get your cash.

No PIN, PIN pad, screen or any other ATM
legacy, just a light and a reader.

Now that’s what I call futuristic as you
could place these light reader in any wall, counter, check-in desk, bar or anywhere.

It’s getting interesting, isn’t it?