October 15, 2009

Advanced ATMs coming to Portugal

Not your fathers ATM story -- It is a multi-function kiosk where they can book train and cinema tickets, make social security and tax contributions, pay utility bills and parking fines, top up their mobile phones and play the lottery.


source link

The multi-tasking ‘hole in the wall’
By Jessica Twentyman
Published: October 13 2009 16:37 | Last updated: October 13 2009 16:37
The cash machine that stands outside the recently opened Rui & Dinora supermarket in the tiny Portuguese market town of Vila Nova de Poiares provides the local community with a lot more than easy access to their euros.

It is a multi-function kiosk where they can book train and cinema tickets, make social security and tax contributions, pay utility bills and parking fines, top up their mobile phones and play the lottery.

That is because the ATM [automatic teller machine] in question is part of Multibanco, a nationwide interbank network that offers more than 60 services, via 1,700 cash machines across Portugal.

Last year, Apacs, the UK payments association, described the Portuguese as ”the leaders in cash machine functionality”, pointing out that, in transaction volumes, use of these add-on services in the country had outstripped cash withdrawals for several years. In 2008, payments made via Multibanco’s ATMs topped €25m, according to SIBS, the organisation that runs the network.

The situation is very different in other countries, especially where online banking is a more established and popular channel for accessing financial services.

ATMs in the US and UK, for example, typically offer five or six standard transactions: withdrawal, deposit, account transfer, balance inquiry, statement printing and, in some (limited) cases, mobile phone top-ups.

rest of article

Posted by staff at October 15, 2009 08:08 AM