Contactless ATMs improve customer experience

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was great concern among customers around the cleanliness of touchscreens of keypads. As a result, ATM, POS and kiosk vendors began deploying or offering contactless ATMs, via allowing customers to control the screen via their smartphones or by tapping their card.

Although concerns around COVID-19 have decreased globally, the contactless trend continues to march on. According to research from the 2023 ATM and Self-service Software Trends guide, 49.7% have deployed mobile integration into their ATMs, with 18.3% embracing contactless/tap technology.

How contactless ATMs work

With contactless or tap, customers can simply tap their cards on an RFID reader on the ATM, which delivers the information over to the machine, saving time for the customers. A Mastercard survey found 51% of Americans use some form of contactless payments, according to a CNBC report.

"What we're really seeing during this crisis period is a consumer behavioral shift to leveraging contactless products," Linda Kirkpatrick, president of U.S. issuers at Mastercard, told CNBC. "If you're at a grocery store or a drug store where a consumer should avoid touching a terminal or coming into contact with the cashier, what contactless products really provide is an avenue to shop safely."

There are multiple ways contactless ATMs confirm a customer's data, according to GoBankingRates. These include biometrics, near-field communication, verification codes or a QR code.

Delivering contactless ATMs to vendors

To answer this market demand, Co-op Financial Solutions announced it would add its Contactless ATM Access to NCR Atleos ATMs, with Diebold Nixdorf and Hyosung Innovue ATMs to be added in 2024.

"The Co-op Contactless ATM Access offering is aligned with leading ATM manufacturer (such as NCR Alteos) network solutions. Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo contactless offering are limited to their own cardholders only and are custom to the bank," Terry Pierce, product management director of Co-op Solutions, said in an email interview.

Pierce also pointed out these transactions offer customers two benefits: improved security and experience.

"Contactless improves the user experience by making it faster, safer and secure. Contactless ATM access also improves transaction processing speed and convenience. And, contactless take less than half a second and is faster than inserting a chip card. Faster and improved self-service experience can lead to increase in loyalty and ATM usage," Pierce said. "It reduces the number of EMV fallback transactions and fraud losses due to skimmed cards. Contactless provides the same security embedded with the use of an EMV chip."

By adopting this service, many credit unions and banks are seeing improve customer experiences that match what they already receive at retailers.

"Using contactless at the ATM really speeds up the transaction. In addition, many members prefer using contactless at merchant locations so this makes the ATM experience similar to what members already are doing at other devices," Stephen Anderson, president and CEO of CU Atm Services LLC, said in an email interview. "Some members are aware of the enhanced security of using contactless transactions and we believe this will increase their adoption of contactless at the ATM."

He also pointed out this can help speed up waits in drive-thru lanes. This is particularly important both for customer service but also for safety, as many customers may feel vulnerable depositing or withdrawing cash from ATMs, due to the possibility of robbery, as demonstrated by many stories on ATM Marketplace.

"Since more than 90% of transactions at our ATMs are for credit union members through the Co-op ATM network, we really believe that this will help reduce wait times at our drive through lanes. As our credit unions and their members rely on our ATMs, particularly for cash deposits and withdrawals, it is important to help speed up the process of getting the members through the drive-thru lanes quickly," Anderson said.