HBOS, the financial services group formed by the merger of the Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, has signed a £12 million deal with NCR Corporation for the deployment of its Aptra Edge software across the group's entire ATM network.
The deal includes 14,000 upgrade kits, which support the move to Aptra Edge while allowing HBOS to meet new accessibility, smartcard and encryption standards.
NCR claims the bank will be the first UK financial institution to move to a multi-vendor open-software platform for ATMs. The implementation will enable the integration of the cash machine network with other service channels at the bank, providing for consistency in cross-channel customer service, branding and communication.
The software, which is also being used to integrate the merged bank's distinct ATM channels, will be installed on the groups' 3400 NCR and 400 Fujitsu units by the end of 2003.
Roger Bracken, vice president of NCR financial solutions, UK and Ireland, adds: "HBOS will have a major competitive edge through its ability to run a single software application across all NCR and non-NCR ATMs, resulting in ease of development and significant cost savings."