In this newly appointed role, Aldred will drive the next phase of Level Four's growth strategy across Europe, reporting to the CEO, Ian Kerr. With 15 years of experience in the ATM sector and a further 14 years' in financial services, Aldred brings with him a wealth of knowledge on how institutions can maximise the ATM channel to ensure profitability and high levels of customer service.

Level Four has established its dominant market position by supporting banks' migrations to the Windows operating system and the multi-vendor XFS standard across Europe, North America and the Middle East. As banks seek to maximise the potential of the ATM, their most frequent customer touchpoint, there is an increasing need to develop high-level testing and quality assurance strategies. In addition, outsourcing is firmly back on the agenda due to the current economic environment. As a result, many banks are looking to outsource their ATM testing functionality and make the most of their outsourcing relationships. Against this background, Aldred will build on Level Four's customer base of predominantly tier one banks and deliver testing and monitoring solutions to support their ATM business strategies.

Mark Aldred comments: "Level Four is a growing company and, having won some significant contracts, it is well-positioned to further grow its market share. Banks are increasingly looking towards the ATM as part of their strategy to improve quality of service and reduce costs. With significant expertise in this area, Level Four will support banks and payment processors in generating significant ROI at the ATM. My aim is to build on Level Four's strong foundation and deliver further value, supporting Level Four's growing number of clients in maximising the potential of their ATMs."Ian Kerr, CEO of Level Four Software, comments: "With the financial sector currently undergoing significant changes, banks want to retain customer trust at the same time as reduce costs. As the primary customer touchpoint, banks are looking towards the ATM as a key factor in achieving this. They are increasingly adopting comprehensive testing strategies to ensure customer satisfaction through maximum ATM uptime as well as outsourcing aspects of their ATM testing functionality. Mark's appointment is a crucial step in helping us realise significant growth against this background."