South Africa Sees Jump In Virtual ATMs

In an effort to reduce the need for teller presence and provide bank customers with unlimited, around-the-clock service, banks in South Africa have been investing in more auto-deposit ATMs in the past few years.

According to Bizcommunity.com, First National Bank in South Africa was the first to install these high-tech ATMs in 2008. The advanced ATMs are referred to as ADTs, which enable customers to scan cash and check deposits into the machine, all without teller assistance. Once the cash is deposited, it is immediately credited the customer’s account.

Since 2008, there has been an increase of other South African banks offering these machines, which have inevitably changed the role of the bank branch tellers and customer accessibility. Tellers can focus on other customer requests at branches since the ATMs can accommodate those who are only looking for quick deposits or withdrawing crash. Accountholders are given more freedom and opportunity to complete such tasks since the ATMs are available 24/7.

Michael Jordaan, chief executive at First National Bank, said to Bizcommunity.com, “It has a huge benefit to the client as they get a real-time benefit and business gets 24/7 banking. It does take volumes away from the teller, but provides us with a great opportunity to re-skill and develop more sales and service staff, which is where our strategic focus is. We are moving branches to a sales and service environment as opposed to a transactional environment.”

Jordaan further emphasized that some of their bank branches, called DotFNBs, are entirely cashless.

Since rolling out the first group of ADT machines, First National Bank has installed a total of 977 to date, which is a 42 percent increase from the last year.

“The ADTs have been a huge success for us and we will continue to roll them out according to our needs,” Jordan stated.

To read the full story at Bizcommunity.com click here.