South African ATM Developements

ATMIA has successfully worked with the South African Reserve Bank on the issue of the central bank's new cash recycling standards. ATMIA will consult with Mr. Dirk Putter, Assistant General Manager, South African Reserve Bank, Currency Management Division, on designing training for merchants who will be required to carry out manual checking of banknotes as part of the new system. 

65% of the volume of banknotes in SA would be recycled through a Cash Recycling Machine and 30% through a Cash Verification Machine, with no more than 5% manually checked by a trained operator. This should rise eventually to 85% through CRMs, 10% through CVMs and 5% through manual sorting. ATM deployers with merchant ATMs could either opt for using CVMs, depending on transaction volumes, or use the manual checking option. Merchants who use manual banknote checking will need to be certified as fully trained and competent. It is for this industry training where ATMIA will provide input. Poor quality notes or counterfeit notes are bad for business and the new system will improve the quality of banknotes in circulation.

ATMIA's annual African conference, the Consumer Banking Convention,took place this year in beautiful Sun City, South Africa and attracted a record attendance, with 25 more attendees than last year's event, held in Cape Town. Delegates came from Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria, Malawi, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, USA, China, Brazil, Australia, Canada, the UK, Switzerland, Czech Republic, and Germany.

The event was co-chaired by ATMIA Africa's new Executive Director, Brian McLean, a veteran banker of over 20 years' experience. Brian also chaired a bank panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities for banking self-service channels in various African markets. Optimism was expressed at the conference that some macro-economic factors are starting to turn in Africa's favour, making investment and technological development more attractive.