User:Marius Popescu 1986/sandbox

ATM Vestibule (Lobby access)
Money has been at the center of our existence for hundreds of years and since then, banks were the ones responsible with handling, distribution and administration of people’s funds. If once the transaction implied human action on both ends, nowadays customers can handle their cash independently and, more important, 24 hours a day.

History
ATM’s (automated teller machines) are the invention that gave people autonomous access to their money accounts but their apparition date it’s unclear even for The Smithsonian Magazine. Although the well-known historical publication is proposing June 27, 1967 as the day when Barclays, in London, unveiled the first ATM in the whole world, this information is disputed, so it would be fair to say that the end of the 1960’s is the time when banking was revolutionized. The phenomenon evolved so much that today we’re talking about 420.000 ATM’s only in America, totaling more than 3,2 billion transactions every year, with even two of this kind of machines installed in Antarctica. .

Today
With the customers and their money left alone in the open, the ATM’s self-service process attracted criminals and the increased number of incidents forced financial institutions to find new ways to raise their level of security. The solution most of the banks went to was the concept of ATM Vestibules (or lobbies). If at first this were used only to withdraw money, now they evolved around the concept of self-banking. These spaces are used for plenty of reasons. First, 24/7 locations translate in a better customer retention for the institution, offering comfort and convenience. 24/7 access to ATMs, night drops, coin counters, online banking kiosks, and other self-service solutions are very much in demand (52 percent of bank consumers would like to see more interactive, digital screens in the bank). On top of that, the ATM Vestibules protects the customers from adverse weather conditions and a more secure environment. .

Even if these days the number of ATM’s transactions are decreasing, as online market has taken its share, the ATM channel is retaining the central role in the banking industry. Being the core touchpoint with the customer and an integral part of the banking omni-channel experience, the ATM self-banking notion remains one of the focus points in every development strategy financial institutions are planning.

A 2015 study where more than 500 executives from the financial sector were interviewed offered eloquent figures about the ATM self-service importance. The analysis showed that enhancing customer service was the main priority in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the emerging markets, with only USA placing it as the second. As the study reveals, developing a customer-centric business model, optimizing distribution, and simplifying business and operative model are the main priorities for 2020, being no coincidence that all of them are revolving around the self-service process.

Another conclusion of this study was that branch banking will undergo a significant transformation as the usage of cash is falling away. Whilst most of the banking is migrating towards online, at 40%, cash is still taking the largest share of the financial transaction activity. This is practically underlining the importance of the ATM Vestibules area, where customers can feel comfortable and safe while they are accessing their accounts and carrying out the transactions.

Between the priorities financial institutions had for 2020, in Europe and USA implementing new technology was in the top 3. Since the customers were most affected by criminal activity in the last years, and with a lot of the incidents happening at or around ATMs and ATM Vestibules, law enforcement agencies are working alongside the banks to develop new ways to improve the security. Even now, most of these designated areas are equipped with close-circuit monitoring system, panic and fire alarms and restriction access systems. The latter is where most of the improvements are being made nowadays, as new technology is developed year by year. If until recent days’ access in the ATM Vestibules was made with the help of the magnetic band of the credit card, now we have access control devices such as PASSCHIP which are using a technology dedicated to CHIP based cards. This is bringing new hurdles on criminal’s path and an increased sense of security for the self-banking process, which should make customers feel more secure whilst carrying out their transactions.