VeriFone Holdings Inc. said Tuesday that KeyCorp will deploy VeriFone's MX870 debit card terminals at all its KeyBank teller windows to help identify and authenticate customers and for cross-selling.
More and more banks are beginning to use debit card terminals at their teller windows for such purposes.
Greg R. McFaul, VeriFone's managing director of financial services, said the technology identifies customers in "three tiers."
"The fist tier is card swipe, and that identifies the card, then you can identify the customer through a PIN," he said. Depending on the level of security the bank wants, the MX870 can also capture a signature and turn that into a "biometric," meaning a unique identifier, through an algorithm.
The terminal also can present a "visual transaction summary" to the consumer, Mr. McFaul said, and it contains a color screen that can be used for marketing and branding messages and full-motion videos.
VeriFone will begin rolling out the terminals in about three months, Mr. McFaul said.
Keith Bell, a KeyCorp vice president, said by e-mail that the terminals can "present marketing messages and product information, but also will enhance the teller's ability to interact with clients in a client-friendly way."
Mr. Bell said the Cleveland banking company chose VeriFone, of San Jose, because the MX870 "provides good screen quality, provides the critical functions Key requires, and is an elegant, high-end device that will enhance teller-client interactions."
Mr. McFaul said the teller window is just the first stop at any bank customer for VeriFone's technology.
The company hopes to expand use of the terminals to other parts of a bank. For instance, they could be used at salespeople's desks, "where an individual may go back and inquire about additional services at the financial institutions," Mr. McFaul said.
Other VeriFone terminals could be used at the drive-through for authentication, Mr. McFaul said. "We see the financial institution in a couple of different areas that we want to address," he said.
Tim Sloane, the director of debit advisory services for Mercator Advisory Group Inc. in Waltham, Mass., said point of sale terminal manufacturers "have all come to recognize that financial institutions are major opportunities to place their devices."
In the past banks have authenticated customers with teller-facing proprietary devices, which tend to be more expensive, Mr. Sloane said. Now, he said, they are working with point of sale manufacturers whose scale "suggests they can produce equipment that costs significantly less and is highly" durable.
For these manufacturers, placing terminals at the teller windows "leads to other opportunities which are more operational than authentication-based," Mr. Sloane said, and "shows you how to tie into a system that can improve the efficiency of the teller operations."
