National Australia Bank (NAB) announced that it is one of the first banks in Australia to purchase the new ATMs, with an initial order for over 50 SelfServ units to fulfil its objectives of providing more convenient banking to its customers.

Jordan Gibbons, NAB Head of ATMs and Interchange said, "NAB is committed to providing fast, reliable and convenient access for our customers. NCR SelfServ is helping us deliver on our commitment by setting new benchmarks in availability, ease of use and functionality. As one of the first financial institutions in Australia to include this new generation of ATMs in our network, we will now be able to offer the benefits of NCR SelfServ not just to our own customers but to all Australian consumers with access to one of NAB's 1,600 ATMs."

Other banks in Australia have also ordered NCR SelfServ, which is the first ATM family that allows the full range of banking ATM services to be delivered at every location. Supporting the SelfServ ATM launch, a survey conducted for NCR by Buzzback Research found that the top reasons Australians and New Zealanders chose self-service for banking transactions instead of personal assistance was because it delivered faster transactions (63 percent) and more convenience (59 percent).

These reasons underline how important it is that ATMs are available when and where consumers want to use their services. NCR SelfServ ATMs use a broad range of technology innovations to deliver the highest levels of availability for all transactions. Chief among these is a "self-healing" capability, allowing the ATM to recover from software failures automatically, without intervention. This can cut recovery time, whichich previously ranged from three to four hours, to just ten or fifteen minutes.

Over half of ATM downtime is due to low-level maintenance tasks, such as replacing receipt rolls and clearing card or paper jams. NCR SelfServ's intuitive interactive graphic operator panels mean that staff can fix more faults the first time and more quickly, leading to better availability. NCR SelfServ's capacity for dual receipt rolls significantly reduces the amount of paper consumed while assuring receipt availability.

"As financial institutions in Australia enable their customers to do more sophisticated transactions through self-service, it becomes increasingly important that every ATM is up and running whenever their customers want to use them," said Ross Checkley, managing director for NCR in South Pacific.

"In a big network of thousands of ATMs, every one percent of unavailability could mean hundreds of dissatisfied customers and thousands of dollars in lost transaction revenue. NCR SelfServ's advances in availability mean that banks can get closer to delivering 100 percent successful customer interactions every single time. NAB's order for NCR SelfServ tangibly demonstrates their commitment to providing convenient 24-hour access to banking services."

Australian consumers may soon be able to deposit cash and cheques without suffering lengthy queues in a branch thanks to NCR SelfServ's "intelligent deposit" capabilities. Banknotes and cheques can be deposited directly without the need for an envelope. Cash is credited immediately, while a scanned image of the cheque is printed on the receipt, giving consumers complete peace of mind that their cheque is "in the system." This intelligent deposit capability also enables customers to use the ATM for additional services such as bill payment, including utility bills that customers may want to pay at the last minute to manage their finances effectively.

Future technologies, such as contactless card and mobile payment systems, can also be easily integrated with NCR SelfServ ATMs, thereby improving convenience for consumers and creating further revenue generation opportunities for banks.

The new ATMs can also help financial institutions meet their environmental responsibilities. NCR SelfServ ATMs consume less energy and paper and require fewer engineer call-outs, significantly reducing their maintenance ‘carbon footprint'.

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