Envelope-Free ATMs Increase Cash Deposits, Towergroup Says

Envelope-free ATMs will increase the machines' cash deposits because bank customers receive an image of each note, Nicole Sturgill, research director of delivery channels at TowerGroup, the Needham, Mass.-based research arm of MasterCard Worldwide, tells ATM&Debit News, a CardLine sister publication. Many bank customers refuse to put cash into an ATM-deposit envelope because they fear a bank employee might steal it, Sturgill says. ATMs that accept envelope deposits provide a receipt for the overall transaction amount, but they do not identify individual bank notes deposited. Bank customers, however, do not have qualms about using envelopes to deposit checks into an ATM, Sturgill says. Large banks, including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co., are converting their entire networks to envelope-free ATMs because customers deposit cash into the ATMs instead having a teller perform the function, Sturgill says. ATM transactions are less expensive, and the machines enable teller to perform other functions.