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Citigroup Inc. plans to launch a pilot that would enable customers to make
deposits at certain ATMs located in 7- Eleven Inc. convenience stores, Mark
Gilder, Citibank ATM and remittance business manager, consumer banking products,
said Monday at the ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum in Chandler, Ariz.
The test eventually will involve 900 multifunctionalATMs, or Vcoms.
In June 2007, Cardtronics Inc., the Houston-based ISO, purchased for $137
million 5,700 cash-dispensing ATMs and Vcoms from 7-Eleven, the Dallas-based
convenience-store chain. All of the ATMs and Vcoms Citibank brands, allowing Citi
customers to use them to make surchargefree cash withdrawals.
The Vcoms enable customers whose financial institutions have an agreement
with Cardtronics to make deposits at the machines. Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.-
based Co-op Financial Services, which operates 28,000 surcharge-free ATMs
nationwide for member credit unions, has such an agreement with Cardtronics.
New York-based Citi is scheduled to begin the pilot before the end of the year in
Alameda County, Calif., Gilder told ATM&Debit News.
Citi plans to use the test to determine how its customers react to being able to
make deposits at ATMs located in 7- Eleven stores and whether educational
materials are needed to facilitate the deposits, Gilder says. "The key measure,
however, will be deposit volume," he says. Citi also will use the pilot to leverage its
brand, Gilder says.
