Technically Speaking
21
— By Rahul Vaish
The ATM has served as the humble foot soldier of the economy for the
last few decades. It has operated right from the frontlines of the
economy – be it rain or sunshine – pumping liquidity into the system.
There can be no two doubts: ATMs have become indispensable in
today's milieu. They have become an important cog in the wheel.
Millions depend upon it. Without this cog, the wheel (the economy) stops
to turn smoothly. Ever since its first deployment in London in 1967[1], it
has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds. Today, more than 3 million
ATM machines operate across the globe with total number of
withdrawals exceeding 8.6 billion every year.
Ease of dispensation, 24X7 access, increasing cost pressures on financial
institutions together with an ever increasing demand for customer selfservice have driven innovations in the industry for some time now. With
financial activities moving towards the digital medium, it is not
inconceivable that ATMs could very well become the face as well as the
heart of banking operations across the globe. However, in order to do
so, banks have to develop the next-generation of technologies that
leverage biometrics and mobility to control fraud as well as facilitate
onboarding of more transactions.