The 1000th GRG ATM in Turkey was put online on November 24, by Altus, GRG’s local partner in service.
According to the contract signed in April 2011, Ziraat Bank (T.C. Ziraat Bankas? A.?.), Turkish's largest state bank, had purchased more than one thousand cash recycling ATMs from GRGBanking, the leading provider of currency recognition and cash processing solutions. After the complete installation, the bank's ATM fleet will expand from 2900 to more than 4400 and meet 15% of the market need in Turkey alone.
The chosen model of the contract is cash recycling ATM H68N. As a self-service cash machine to provide withdrawal, deposit, currency exchange, bill payment, coin exchange and other services, it uses cash recycling technology, which is still uncommon in Turkey.
According to Banking Automation Bulletin, the machines is part of Ziraat Bank’s plan to “offer convenient banking services to the unbanked and the semi-banked” people, and also “a method of curbing operating costs and enhancing the consumer experience”. The bank also plans to direct its customers from the branches to ATMs, with concern of its high ratio of customer to ATM.
Recycling ATMs enable bank users to withdraw the deposited banknotes and therefore it can reduce the cost of cash replenishment. Fintek Financial Technology Services, the IT company of Ziraat Bank in Turkey, is working on new algorithms which derive from technology from GRGBanking and its own experiences. It is supposed to reduce cash replenishment frequency by around 50%. The four-cassette design that separates different denominations helps to reduce the banknotes counting and sorting time.
“H68N is the world’s first ATM with note serial number recognition and tracking technologies and leading cash sorting system.” said Kevin Luo, Director of Business Development Department from GRGBanking.
The machine is equipped with palm vein readers, the latest biometric security technology to identify customer by the vascular patterns of a palm. According to Fintek, the target in long term is to replace bank cards with that technology, which can be used even in cold environment.
The bank is to build the largest network of biometric ATMs in Europe by January 2012. Besides 1505 biometric ATMs, 1,400 desktop palm readers will be disseminated over branches for the purpose of customer’s palm vein subscription.
News Media Contact: Benny Huang