LOS ANGELES, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- Cash Technologies, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: CHNG) wholly owned Austrian subsidiary, CoinBank Automation Handels GmbH, announced today that it has reached an agreement with Bank Austria's subsidiary, Creditanstalt AG, to install its CoinBank(R) advanced coin deposit machines on a trial basis. With more than 200 branches, Bank Austria is Austria's largest banking group with more than US$140 billion in assets, in addition to being Austria's largest publicly traded corporation.
"The conversion of local currencies to the euro within the European Union ("EU") will provide enormous opportunities for European cash handling equipment providers like CoinBank Automation," said Cash Technologies Chairman and CEO Bruce Korman. "Bank Austria, a banking technology innovator, is one of the first of many European banks that we expect to embrace the electronic-commerce enabled CoinBank(R) machine."
More than 70 billion coins need to be redeemed in Europe before July, 2002, when local coin and currency denominations will become worthless for common use. The CoinBank(R) self-service coin deposit machine is the ideal solution to help the EU cope with this problem. It is entirely software driven, allowing coins in any country to be programmed for acceptance now and the new euro coins later.
"Europeans have long had a tradition of electronic banking," continued Korman, "and we would expect our e-commerce capabilities such as online bill paying to give the CoinBank machine unique functionality demanded by both the banking and retail environments."
The strict deadlines imposed for the implementation of the euro could create a potential crisis if banks and cash intensive businesses are not fully equipped to count and sort the new money.
Cash Technologies, Inc. develops and markets innovative e-commerce kiosks, including advanced self-service coin counters and the multifunction ATM-X(TM) automated teller machine. The Company also provides computerized cash processing services to banks, armored carriers, rapid transit agencies and other cash-intensive businesses.
Matters discussed in this release include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may be materially different. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include activity levels in the securities markets and other risk factors disclosed in the company's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Form 10-QSB and Form 10-KSB on file with the SEC. SOURCE Cash Technologies, Inc.
Copyright 1999, PR Newswire