SAN FRANCISCO -- BankAmerica Corp.'s California unit has become the first bank in the state to offer checking account "ministatements" through its automated teller machines.
In a service starting up this week, the machines will list on paper as many as seven of a customer's most recent checking transactions. The service is available through all 1,650 BankAmerica ATMs in California. The same information has been available for several years through BankAmerica's 24-hour automated telephone service.
Many Banks Plan Service
Statement summaries delivered through ATMs are a growing trend as banks seek to expand the machines' service offerings.
About 12% of the nation's largest banks now offer the service, but 64% plan to do so by 1993, according to a survey by Payment Systems Inc., a Tampa, Fla.-based research company.
Ministatements are especially attractive to banks because the service is relatively cheap to install and requires "no hardware retrofit," said Payment Systems research director, R. Neal Chambliss. The statements are printed on standard ATM slips.
BankAmerica puts a high priority on electronic delivery systems and has aggressively built its ATM network. The ministatement service is designed "to help encourage people to use ATMs," said senior vice president Deborah McWhinney, chief of the California bank's ATM unit.
Called Quick Look, the service will be free for an introductory period bu will cost $1 per transaction beginning next year.
Worthwhile Income
Installation "was a cinch," Ms. McWhinney said; the bank built on the system set up for its phone services.
Revenue estimates for the ATM service vary widely. But if volume is similar to that gained by other banks, "we will get a nice stream" of income, she said.
The bank has studied whether extra traffic will force customers to wait longer in ATM lines, Ms. McWhinney said. The service has been engineered so that transactions can be completed quickly, but if waits become too long, "management is willing to put in more ATMs."
