US ATMs Finally See Growth

The number of ATMs in the U.S. now stands between 475,000 and 500,000, a new milestone for the industry, which has suffered from years of stagnant growth.

According to a press release announcing the news by the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA), the U.S.A. ATM market had been hit by the struggling economy, complex EMV migration and Windows updates, but now the market is seeing population growth again.

“These numbers confirm what we have suspected in recent months,” said ATMIA U.S. Executive Director, David Tente, in a press release. “There is growing recognition of the important role that ATMs play in our payments system and, alongside of it, in a new wave of branch transformation that is sweeping through the banking industry.”

According to ATMIA, new functionality is coming to ATMs in the U.S., with financial institutions large and small facilitating pre-staged withdrawals and deploying contactless technologies. What’s more, the trade group said tens of thousands of independent U.S.A. ATMs now provide person-to-person (P2P) money transfer capabilities, and new bank branches are more likely to be smaller and depend more substantially on the use of advanced function ATM terminals.

Looking even further into the future, ATMIA said ATM deployers and manufacturers are coming together to embrace the next generation of ATMs, which will rely on app-based platforms for an enhanced user experience, improved security and greater interoperability. All of these factors will collectively drive accelerating population growth in the ATM market.

As a result, ATMIA also said it launched a Global ATM Innovation portal on its website, which includes the Industry Blueprint for Next Generation ATMs and other resources related to ATM innovation.