IMGCAP(1)]
Cashcard Network, an Australian ATM network owned by First Data Corp., has signed a card-acceptance deal with that country's Maritime, Mining and Power Credit Union, the United States-based processor said Wednesday. The deal enables the credit union's 22,000 members to have free access to their funds through Cashcard's ATMs. Cashcard deploys nearly 5,500 ATMs in Australia, First Data says in a statement. The deal comes more than a month after the country's central bank mandated that ATM owners can charge users of their machines directly instead of collecting those fees through card issuers, which could pass along costs to their cardholders and impose their own fees. "Our members are spread across Australia, in cities and rural towns, and by extending our direct charge-free network we give them the opportunity to avoid these fees wherever possible," Mark Genovese, the credit union's CEO, says in the statement.
