Paydiant Patent-Protects ATM-to-App Technology

Paydiant has received a patent for technology that lets consumers withdraw cash from ATMs using their smartphones, a feature that it says should appeal to banks. Diebold and FIS already offer Paydiant's technology to their bank customers.

Paydiant sees the technology working best when combined with other mobile banking or mobile wallet features. "From a bank perspective this fits beautifully into the notion of mobile banking," says Chris Gardner, co-founder of Paydiant. "Everyone realizes that trading a swipe of a card for a scan of a QR code or tap of a phone isn't going to get any adoption past the early adopters. It's the aggregate of mobile wallet features that create an intriguing experience."

Paydiant provides a cloud-based, white-label mobile wallet and loyalty program. The company secured $15 million in funding from one of its customers in September last year.

When integrated into a banking app, the technology lets consumers choose a funding account and amount to be withdrawn at a compatible ATM from their smartphone. When the consumer pushes a "mobile" button on the ATM, the machine displays a QR code to be scanned by the smartphone's camera.

The technology cuts the time people spend at an ATM in half, from 20 seconds to 10 seconds on average, Gardner says. It also addresses the risk of PIN skimming and shoulder surfing because the PIN and any other sensitive customer data isn't displayed on screen, he says.

Three banks, including Wintrust Financial Corp. and City National Bank, are live on Paydiant's platform. Gardner would not identify the third bank.

Paydiant focuses on pushing its mobile payments platform to both retailers and traditional financial institutions. Subway sandwich shops are integrating Paydiant's mobile payment, offers and loyalty technology into its mobile wallet app. And CU Wallet, a credit union-focused mobile wallet that's still in development, is working with Paydiant as one of the vendors supporting its technology.

Paydiant charges its clients a monthly fee per active user of the wallet and a fee for each transaction. None of Paydiant's current clients have indicated they intend to charge consumers for the ATM service, Gardner says.

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