National ATM Council Says NYC Ordinance Is Costly, Burdensome

The National ATM Council (NAC) argued in testimony to the Committee on Consumer Affairs of the New York City Council last week that a proposed ordinance would impose costly and burdensome new security regulations on ATM operators all around the city.

According to a press release, the National ATM Council said it argued last week that City ordinance Int. 1406-2016 wouldn’t achieve its stated goals but would rather result in many ATMs being taken out of service and a higher cost to consumers for the ATMs that did remain.

“The industry has been hard at work on these very same security issues, and we’ve made significant real-world progress, without the need for a costly, ‘one-size-fits-all’ regulatory approach,” said NAC Executive Director Bruce Renard in the press release. “NAC has provided compelling evidence that retail ATMs are safer for consumers to use versus unattended outdoor bank ATMs, and we will continue working hard to keep it that way.”

According to the National ATM Council, in addition to making the case that the ordinance would be costly and burdensome, the industry trade group also presented information at the hearing about how other countries have moved to EMV technology and how it resulted in increased card-related fraud. The National ATM Council contends criminals simply started using stolen magnetic stripe card data before the EMV chip transition was finished.

“In recognition of the increased short-term threat triggered by EMV implementation, NAC has worked proactively with the merchant community to get ahead of the curve on implementing ‘best practices’ for maximizing security at retail ATMs throughout the U.S.,” said Renard in the same press release.

NAC Chair George Sarantopulos said that, instead of new, costly regulations, the council should “pursue stronger criminal penalties and enforcement programs to apprehend, prosecute and incarcerate those who seek to commit crimes against ATMs or ATM consumers in the City.”