Cash use will still be important even in the digital era

As mobile payment methods go from strength to strength, various media outlets have speculated about the possibility of cash and ATMs disappearing in the not too distant future. Is this realistic?

The truth is that ATMs are still playing a crucial role in the financial sector, and it is risky to claim that cash is being abandoned. These were the main conclusions drawn during the ATM & Payments Innovation Summit, organized by the ATM Industry Association under the banner “Seeing the Future, TODAY”. Worldwide speakers came together to inform and interact with an audience of over 500 trade professionals and experts in payment services and financial self-service systems. This roster of speakers included Juan Jesús León Cobos, New Developments and Products Manager of GMV’s Secure e-Solutions sector, who analyzed ATM cybersecurity trends.

Once of the facts that came out during the conference was that cash, which still represents 40% of consumer transactions, is the most widely used retail payment method. From the clients’ point of view, moreover, ATMs are still the most important nexus of any satisfactory bank-client relationship. At the same time bank customers now expect to find a constantly increasing range of ATM functions and services; they also point to security as their greatest concern and a sine qua non of their ongoing trust in a totally integrated channel meeting all their needs.

GMV, as world leader in ATM security solutions, sponsored this summit while also showcasing its tried-and-trusted inhouse product checker ATM Security, which has now been on the market for over 10 years, safeguarding more than 150,000 ATMs in about 35 countries.