General

We had a very successful “European ATM’s 2008” conference in London on April 14th and 15th at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel. With many top speakers, an international audience, great exhibition layout, and a superb venue, it proved to be a very good conference. Our new format of having two “streams” running in parallel on day one was enthusiastically received, and provided the individual focus for both banks and independent ATM deployers, together with the Processors, Card Schemes and Software. Our second day was a combination of high level speakers covering technology and case studies, which proved to be of high interest.

In the evening after our first day we held a special dinner and invited the inventor of the ATM, John Shepherd-Barron OBE, as guest speaker, who provided us with amusing anecdotes regarding the invention of the ATM – who would have guessed that it all started by considering packaging 10 x £1:00 notes and issuing them like a bar of chocolate !! John was presented with a copy of the latest RBR ATM global research book, which had been signed by the dinner guests.

One entry in the book stated “The Lord is my Shepherd” – a statement which amused John Shepherd Barron.

I would also like to take the opportunity to welcome POSTILLION, our latest International Sponsor. At a time when so much reported crime is “card & identity fraud” it is welcome news to have a world leading software company joining us, who have a prime role in providing professional and secure solutions.

Crime Report

ATMIA has now joined the recently formed ATM Fraud Group, which is an off-shoot of the ATM Security Working Group, specifically to focus on the high technology crimes covering card, network, and ATM fraud.

Recent statistics covering the first half of 2007, have indicated UK to be the fraud centre in Europe, with 752 skimming attacks (not number of cards) netting €85m compared with the rest of Europe which had 1147 skimming attacks netting €35.6m. These attacks are not necessarily at ATM’s, but any device which can be used to compromise card and PIN data.

This would tend to lead to a conclusion that UK has the highest fraud, but unfortunately information from Europe (European ATM Security Team) is highly suspect in terms of the level of information reported from each of the countries, with none of the coordination that UK has between Banks, VocaLink, and APACS. It is difficult to accept that the criminals in UK gain over €113k for each skimming attack, whereas in the rest of Europe it is one third less at around €32k!

Regrettably my suspicion is that there is a lack of coordination & accuracy of reported data (particularly, Spain, France, Germany, and Italy), and that criminals are equally active in the Euro area as they are in UK. If we accept that UK represents a more correct overview of fraud, and extrapolate figures for Europe, then losses for the first six months of 2007 could be nearer €500m rather than the €120m being reported, leading to a staggering potential €1bn for the year..    

This provides a clear indication of the importance of the ATM Fraud Group, and the necessity for a more accurate figure from the rest of Europe. We would welcome working with all organisations, to establish methodology for accurate information and recommendations for implementation.

Perhaps our biggest challenge is to assess the weakness of the magnetic stripe technology on cards, and address how this can be improved/removed.

CIT and Pro Cash Lobbies

Recent information from one of the biggest retailers has cast doubt on the overall effectiveness of “touch and go” electronic card payments.

The logic that a customer/retailer requires speed of payment, is only of value for fast food, and quick throughput environments. However when the retailer has special offers (2 for 1) and reduced price margins, the increased cost of a “touch & go” transaction can become more significant than the extra sales. For most other retail environments, the retailer wants the customer to stay longer in the store in order to buy more, consequently the few seconds of reduced payment time are of little impact, but the additional cost of upgraded equipment, and the ROI are important factors for the retailer to consider. 

Environmental Issues

As stated in the last report, 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 foresees 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.

ATMIA comments and observations have been passed to the European Commission requesting the removal of the ATM from the report. This is based on the logic of insufficient sales volumes which are well below the requirements that trigger inclusion for Eco design, lack of data to support inclusion, and the fact that the ATM has already created a significant improvement in eco policy by the efficient distribution of cash compared with traditional teller methods. This has lead to ATMIA being invited to join future meetings as the ATM  representative organisation.

ATMIA have established an “ATM Eco Forum” for manufacturers, and held our first conference call on May 8th. There will be an additional “User’s ATM Eco Forum” intended to discuss and review operational efficiencies that may be applied, and to provide feedback to the manufacturers ATM Eco Forum.

Anyone interested in finding out more information or participating in either forum, please contact either graham@atmia.com or mike@atmia.com.

General

We can confirm that both the British Standards Institute (BSi) and ISO have accepted and incorporated into there registers the ATMIA pictogram for ATM/ Cash Machine/Cash Dispenser.