ATM Ownership. Should I Stay or Should I go?
As the Clash once asked in their legendary song: Should I Stay or Should I go? Banks, Credit Unions, Convenience Store owners, grocery store owners and other business owners must ask themselves in regard to ATM ownership.
With ADA Compliance, EMV mandates, network interchange reduction and fee increases, ATM ownership and operation is becoming more and more challenging. Come March 15, 2012 is the final deadline for ADA compliance for all ATMs. In 2013, the networks begin imposing EMV mandates on an industry wherein no manufacturer is making an EMV compliant ATM as of the date of this writing.
With each passing new law and mandate comes additional and costly capital commitments from ATM owners and operators. To complicate matters, Visa, MasterCard and others are increasing fees and thus reducing the revenue stream to operators in a saturated market. These trends in the industry were singular events in the past but now they seem ongoing and continuous.
More and more financial institutions of all types are outsourcing their ATM operations to third party specialized operators. These financial institutions save on human resources, capital outlays, insurance and other expenses. Moreover and more importantly they save on liability exposure. Through outsourcing, risks of regulation E and ADA lawsuits are removed. Fines imposed by networks for non-compliance are no longer part of management’s operational decision making process.
With dark clouds on the horizon all ATM operators need to ask themselves: Should I stay or should I go?