Palmetto Bank in Greenville, S.C., has signed an integrated-services contract with Diebold Inc., a strategy the ATM manufacturer and more of its competitors have begun using to counter declining ATM sales to U.S.-based regional and small banks. The agreement’s terms were not disclosed.
Palmetto, a regional bank serving upstate South Carolina, has been a Diebold customer since 1995 and deploys 37 Diebold Opetva ATMs powered by the manufacturer’s Agilis software. The bank’s integrated-services agreement changes its relationship with Diebold, which also now will manage some services previously done by the bank.
“Diebold is ramping up its managed-services business,” explains Gil Luria, an analyst with Los Angeles-based Wedbush Securities. “Three years ago, when Diebold introduced integrated services to U.S. banks, they were not interested. But as the economy changed and banks’ ATM fleets aged, [banks] have become more receptive to the idea.”
Providing integrated services eliminates banks’ upfront expenses because they do not have to pay $20,000 to $30,000 to purchase new ATMs. Instead, banks pay monthly management fees, Luria says, noting Diebold has signed integrated-services contracts with 200 banks.
North Canton, Ohio-based Diebold, using its currency-management product, will track and analyze cash movement and replenishment across Palmetto’s ATM network. Palmetto executives also selected Diebold RemoteLink to boost the $1.4 billion asset bank’s marketing presence. RemoteLink targets bank customers through bank ATMs with advertising and coupons.
The Palmetto agreement includes Diebold Advisor ATM-status monitoring designed to increase the machines’ uptime. The monitor delivers ATM messages about low cash, low receipt-paper levels, card-reader problems and printer paper jams. It also supplies support from technicians who provide preventive maintenance, replacement and repair, and service calls when needed.
Diebold also is providing Palmetto software support, keeping the bank’s ATM software current and compliant with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards for protecting stored, processed and transmitted cardholder data.
Competitors NCR Corp. and Wincor Nixdorf AG offer products managing financial institutions’ ATM networks.
