Banks are experimenting with new ATM features, such as the ability to get exact change, pay credit

card bills, and access your accounts via fingerprint. How do you expect such features to be received? What will the average ATM be able to do 5 or 10 years from now?

Modern society expects such technological developments to be integrated in their daily lives. Look at the developments in the cell phone industry in the last 5 to 10 years and you can see the terrific pace of innovation. One thing to be cognizant of is the regulatory environmentlaws can be enacted that significantly alter projected developments in ATM features. Additionally, jurisdictional issues may allow some features to be present in one country but not in another. Given the uncertainty of this critical issue, one cannot predict with certainty what features will be present on ATMs in the near future. Some likely candidates include: the ability to make credit card and loan payments, dispensing various bill denominations, and eliminating the use of paper waste with emailed receipts. One feature that is already rolling out is videoconferencing with a live teller via the ATM. Additionally, the likelihood of cell phones with near-field communications (NFC) capability will likely allow individuals to interact with ATMs without a bank card. Generally speaking, the younger the customer, the more likely they are to utilize these features. This is obviously the result of the ubiquitous nature of technology embedded in the culture within which they have been raised. Older generations may require more time to feel secure utilizing these features.

To what extent do ATMs with video conferencing capabilities enable banks to lower costs while giving customers the face-to-face customer service they desire?

Estimates vary, but there are certainly costs saving to be had in this scenario. Some estimates place the savings of using an ATM at about 50 times cheaper than that of a branch transaction. Another estimate states that banks could reduce costs by as much as 80% per transaction by having customers utilize an ATM as opposed to a traditional branch. Generally speaking, the younger the customer, the more likely they are to utilize the video conferencing capabilities. This is obviously the result of the ubiquitous nature of technology embedded in the culture within which they have been raised. Older generations may require more time to feel secure utilizing this feature.

What types of security advancements can we expect from future generations of

Traditional ATM security has focused on the prevention of physical attacks. Increased surveillance and physical hardening have increased security in this area. In the future it is likely that attacks may focus more on the software that runs the ATM, as this provides greater potential rewards for the thief, and potentially less risk. While future security will still focus on physical attacks, by implementing new hardened designs, they will also feature security that is less obvious to the user, as in the software utilized to run the device.

Do banks typically relay the cost of investing in new infrastructure, such as cuttingedge ATMs, to customers in the form of higher fees?

It can generally be assumed that such costs will be passed on to consumers in the forms of higher fees. Of course, there are factors that can counter this assumption, such as competition for market share. Another likely scenario would be for banks to allow advertising to appear on these updated ATMs, thereby eliminating the issue of passing on costs altogether.