ATMs catching up as banks go tech-savvy

Automated teller machines (ATMs) are fast rising in popularity, with transactions through them rising nearly 47 percent last year.The volume of transactions using an ATM booth stood at Tk 100,000 crore in 2012, up from the previous year’s Tk 68,000 crore, according to data from Bangladesh Bank (BB).Of the 47 scheduled banks (which does not include the nine new banks), 40 provide ATM services at present.“Banks are expanding their ATM networks fast, taking financial services to the easy reach of customers,” said Kazi Saifuddin Munir, managing director of ITC Limited that runs the Q-CASH, one of the largest ATM networks in the country.In 2012, 1,359 new ATM booths were set up, to take the tally to nearly 5,000, according to BB.Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL) has 2,400 ATMs, accounting for almost half of the total machines in the country.Q-CASH itself has about 1,600 ATMs across the country, through which they render services to hundreds of thousands of clients of 28 banks. Transactions per month using the Q-CASH network now stand between Tk 1,500 crore and Tk 2,000 crore, he said.On average, Tk 2,600 crore is transacted per month using DBBL’s ATM machines, up from Tk 1,600 crore a year ago, said Abul Kashem Mohammad Shirin, the bank’s deputy managing director.“We are getting benefits from our rapidly expanded ATM network — more and more customers are shifting to ATMs from branches.”The rising presence of ATMs means the cardholders are increasingly becoming vulnerable to heists. Often, it has been reported that robbers hold their victims at gunpoint and get them to confess their PINs, which they later use to clear up the victims’ accounts.There have been reports of forgery of the bank cards as well, often involving the bank officials themselves.“Yes, we get lots of reports on forgery,” said Munir, adding that many banks import cheap ATM machines, which are vulnerable to frauds. “BB has to set a standard for machines.”