General

We look forward to our “European ATM’s 2008” conference in London on April 14th and 15th at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel, which is located on the south bank of the Thames looking back towards the Houses of Parliament and near the London Eye. Our conference format is slightly different this year and on day one we will have two “streams” running. One will be specifically for Banks and Independent ATM deployers, and the other will cover Processors, Card Schemes and Software. Our second day will be a combination of high level speakers covering technology and case studies.

In the evening after our first day we will be holding a special dinner and have invited the inventor of the ATM, John Shepherd-Barron OBE, as guest speaker.

We look forward to seeing all of our members and their invited guests. You can book your spot online today on our website.

Crime Report

ATMIA continues to fund the successful ATM Security Working Group, chaired by Alan Townsend ex Metropolitan Police Flying Squad. The ATMSWG has now been expanded and includes Banks, IAD’s, Police ALO’s, and other interested parties. One of the challenges which has been raised by the IAD’s, are the problems associated with obtaining “planning approval” for installing ATM’s, and the different security requirements. The ATMSWG has obtained input from the Police ALO’s regarding the necessity to ensure discussion prior to planning application, and the importance of providing full information on each particular site, rather than generic information.

The ATMSWG has accepted to review the following security guidelines, to see if specific guidelines can be provided for TTW installations specific to the UK environment. Documents which will be reviewed include:

1. BBA / BSA ATM guidelines
   
2. ATMSWG “stand-alone” guidelines
   
3. ATMSWG “street-based” guidelines
   
4. ATMIA “cash security” guidelines
   
5. ATMIA “physical security” guidelines
   
6. ATMIA “ram raid” guidelines
   
7. New South Wales Police ATM guidelines

Europe

ATMIA recently attended the European Central Bank, Cash User Group meeting, chaired jointly by Mr Antii Heinonen ECB and Mr Benjamin Angel European Commission.

The meeting confirmed the continuing growth of euro banknotes in circulation and in 2007 the number in circulation increased by 0.8 billion to 12.1 billion, with a value of €676.6 billion.

Although the increase in euro banknote circulation represents 6.7%, the biggest increase is due to the increased demand for €500, €100 and €50 notes showing a strong growth of 8.9%, 8.3%, and 7.9% respectively, with other denominations growing at rates between 2% and 6%.

Approximately 20% of euro banknotes are held outside the Euro area mainly in Eastern Europe, UK, and Middle East (compared with 50% of US$).

In 2007 the European NCB’s withdrew 5.5 billion banknotes (5.1%) as being unfit for circulation and replaced them accordingly, the return frequency is approximately 3 times per year with an average lifetime expectancy of around 2 years.

During 2007 a total of 570,000 counterfeit notes were recovered and removed from circulation, dominated by the €20, €50, and €100 notes (with €50 being the main target). It has been noted that 74% of couterfeits are produced by traditional printing using a reasonable level of skill, with 26% being produced using ink jet or toner printing processes which requirelittle skill and low investment.

The above reflects the strong desire by the ECB to ensure that note quality, and confidence remain high, and that counterfeit money can be detected quickly and removed from circulation. This emphasises the importance of the ECB “CASH RECYCLING FRAMEWORK DOCUMENT” circulated to members in an earlier report. This has now become a requirement of the NCB’s from January 2008, and is being discussed to reflect the potential loophole of cash in circulation via retail outlets. We will keep members informed of our input to this debate, and identify any potential changes in this area which may impact the European IAD business model for retail fill ATM’s.

We welcome both Malta and Cyprus as Euro user’s, who both changed to the Euro currency in January. Congratulations to our members who helped to ensure a very smooth transition by the provision of euro hardware, software, and support services.

CIT and Pro Cash Lobbies.

The European Commission has confirmed that they will re-open the subject of CIT harmonisation across Europe, and confirmed that this is a legal requirement.

A consultation document will be produced to open discussions for phase 1 regarding the transportation of Euro’s only and to lose national cross border restrictions for both notes and coins.

Full harmonisation may be considered at a later stage as a phase 2.

The European Secure Transport Association (ESTA) will be the major player in all discussions, other interested parties should either contact ATMIA or ESTA.

Further to the information regarding the constructive assessment by the British Retail Consortium in last months report, we have now received information from APACS, which for the UK market continued to show that cash is king, and sets out to dispel some of the myths surrounding the use of cards and cash. A few of the statistics provided include :-

1. 91% of payments under £10 are made with cash
2. 21% of all payments over £50 are made with cash (24% are by Debit card, 8% by cheque, 32% by bank direct debit/standing order, and 13% by credit card.
3. In 2006 £36.3 billion was spent in cash in supermarkets
4. UK consumers spend £10billion on credit cards, and £18billion on debit cards
5. Total card fraud in 2006 amounted to £428m, with online, phone, and mail order accounting for almost half of the losses.
6. UK has 60,468 ATM’s with 87 withdrawals per second
7. There are 2.6billion withdrawals from bank and building society ATM’s (94% of the total number of withdrawals)
8. Only 4.3% of withdrawals attract a convenience fee (IAD’s account for only 6% of withdrawals).
9. Cashback transaction in retail stores accounted for £7.2billion, compared with £180billion in ATM withdrawals, and the average amount of cashback was £25 compared with £65 for an ATM withdrawal.
10. APACS forecast that in 2016 it is expected that cash machines will still be used by 41million adults, with cash withdrawal amounting to £221billion.

Environmental Issues

A 424 page study document has been released entitled “Study for preparing the first Working Plan of the Eco Design Directive”. The document has been prepared in fulfillment of Article 16 of the Directive, which forsees that the European Commission must establish a working plan which shall set out for the next three years, an indicative list of product groups which will be considered priorities for the adoption of implementing measures.

The document lists key stakeholders, a list of energy using products in different categories, and relevant data.

Of specific interest to ATMIA, are the references to ATM’s, the fact that stakeholders did not include all ATM manufacturers, category they were included in, and the information relating to energy.

At the recent ECB, Cash User Group Meeting, the point was raised by ATMIA, with the joint chairmen from ECB, and the European Commission, who confirmed that this would be addressed. Subsequent correspondence has confirmed that this is being taken up with the appropriate EC Eco Group, to address the most appropriate stakeholders.

ATMIA recently provided input to the ECB environmental study regarding the use of cash (Antonio Arrieta - Life Cycle Assessment of Euro Banknotes). As a result we provided feedback to our members regarding potential actions to reduce environmental impact.

1. Introducing a hibernation mode during the silent hours
2. Switching the monitor off after a period of inactivity
3. Work with Banks to power down completely from midnight to 6am (normally less than 1% of transactions)

However we would strongly advise that while considering power reduction, the following should also be highlighted:

1. Customers are at increased risk by standing longer at an ATM
2. During peak periods larger queues develop due to increased transaction time, leading to potential reduced business
3. Switching the ATM into deep hibernation, monitor off, or power down, may increase failure rates, resulting in more service calls/components, and defeating the main objective.

General

We can confirm that the British Standards Institute (BSi) have accepted the ATMIA pictogram for ATM/ Cash Machine/Cash Dispenser,  has now been incorporated in BS 8501:2002 (incorporating Amendment No.1), on page 40 Registration Number BS8501.6017.

Additionally this symbol with only a minor amendment has also been approved, and is expected to be incorporated as an ISO standard at the next amendment update.