Banks Issue 14.72m Cards, Invests$2.5Bn on ATMs

The total number of Automated Teller Machine cards issued by commercial banks in the country hit 14.72million as at the end of July this year, indicating the growing popularity of the electronic banking outlets, which allow customers to complete basic transactions without the aid of a branch representatives or tellers,  Nigeria CommunicationsWeek  can report.

Investigations revealed that the 14.7 million active ATM cards cost banks some N6 billion to produce at N400 per card on the average.

But in spite of the N400 it costs to produce a card, some banks charge their customers N500 to issue such card, meaning that the banks make N100 per card.

Further investigations revealed that there are three major card schemes:  Verve which controls some 58% of the market while Visa and MasterCard share 42%.

It would be recalled ATM card business has undergone some evolution in the country occasioned by activities of fraudsters who were targeting cardholders because of the magnetic stripe technology that was in-used then.

But, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a move to address the problem directed banks to migrate to Europay MasterCard and Visa (EMV) standard chip and pin cards to guard against fraud.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations  also revealed that money deposit banks in the country have invested some $2.5billion in the acquisition of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) deployed across the country at both offsite and banking premises.

Consequently as at the end of October this year, there are about 12,100 active ATM performing transactions across the country at bank branches, hotels and airports.

It was gathered that the cost of ATMs are determined by their functionalities which include, mono-functional, cashless and multi-functional ATMs.

A mono-functional ATM is the type mostly deployed by banks in the country which dispenses cash as well as carry out other transactions such as payment of utility bills and cost $20,000, this type of ATM is the one mostly deployed by banks in the country.

Multi-functional ATM whose cost is between $50,000 and $100, 000 are those that aside dispensing of cash also accept cash deposit as well as cheque, there are very few of this type deployed in the country. Cashless ATMs as the name implies does not accepts or dispense cash but rather carry out electronic payment transactions only and it costs some $3,000.

Nigeria CommunicationsWeek learnt that there are two major brands of ATMs that are deployed by banks they include, NCR and Wincor Nixdorf.

More so, there are ATMs that are stand-alone which are not deployed on walls, they are mostly deployed at airports and hotels, and the type deployed on walls.