| Operating area | Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern United States |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1979 |
| Defunct | 2005 |
Money Access Center (MAC, also Money Access Card) was an ATM network in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern United States, between 1979 and 2005, when it was absorbed into the STAR network. The network was one of the first in the nation, and helped universalize ATM banking. At its height MAC operated 59,000 ATMs [1] in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan.
MAC was launched in 1979 by the Philadelphia National Bank (PNB), later renamed CoreStates, to compete with the GEORGE network, which was launched one year earlier by Girard Bank. [2] [3] PNB was able to line up support from thirteen other financial institutions at launch, capturing significantly more market share than GEORGE, to the point that the locals preferred the terms "MAC machine" and "MAC card" to "ATM" or "ATM card".
In 1988 CoreStates acquired and integrated MAC competitor CashStream, making MAC the second-largest regional ATM network, behind only NYCE. [4] In 1992 CoreStates created a holding company for MAC, called Electronic Payment Services (EPS), headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The company was co-owned by CoreStates, Bank One, PNC Bank, and Society Corporation. [5] These were later joined by KeyCorp and National City Corp. [6]
Through the 1990s EPS expressed its desire to go public, either by issuing an IPO or by being acquired by a publicly traded company. [7] The latter happened in 1999 when publicly-traded Concord EFS acquired EPS for $920 Million. [6] This turned out to be a very profitable deal for Concord, so it acquired two more ATM networks in the next two years, Cash Station and STAR, which expanded Concord's networks to 28 states. [8] In its press-release about the acquisition of STAR in 2001 Concord announced its intent to consolidate the three networks under the STAR banner due to STAR's better name recognition, making STAR the largest ATM network in the country. The MAC (and Cash Station) banner was to be phased out over a period of four years [1]
In 2014, JetPay, founded by Bipin Shah, who ran the MAC network while working at CoreStates, announced a product called Money Access Card, a reloadable payment card for JetPay's payroll-processing-company clients [9]
MAC Machine and MAC Card continue to be used to refer to ATMs and ATM cards respectively as a regionalism in certain parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, along with the phrase tap MAC to describe getting money from an ATM. [10]
A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card, is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The card usually consists of the bank's name, a card number, the cardholder's name, and an expiration date, on either the front or the back. Many of the new cards now have a chip on them, which allows people to use their card by touch (contactless), or by inserting the card and keying in a PIN as with swiping the magnetic stripe. These are similar to a credit card, but unlike a credit card, the money for the purchase must be in the cardholder's bank account at the time of the purchase and is immediately transferred directly from that account to the merchant's account to pay for the purchase.
Electronic funds transfer at point of sale is an electronic payment system involving electronic funds transfers based on the use of payment cards, such as debit or credit cards, at payment terminals located at points of sale. EFTPOS technology was developed during the 1980s.
An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account information inquiries, at any time and without the need for direct interaction with bank staff.
In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.
CoreStates Financial Corporation, previously known as Philadelphia National Bank (PNB), was an American bank holding company in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area.
Fiserv, Inc. is an American multinational company headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin, that provides financial technology services to clients across the financial services sector, including banks, thrifts, credit unions, securities broker dealers, mortgage, insurance, leasing and finance companies, and retailers.
BancNet is a Philippine-based interbank network connecting the ATM networks of local and offshore banks, and the country's single interbank network in the Philippines in terms of the number of member banks and annual transactions. Due to its status as the country's single ATM switch operator, it is designated by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as the country's national ATM network.
Payment cards are part of a payment system issued by financial institutions, such as a bank, to a customer that enables its owner to access the funds in the customer's designated bank accounts, or through a credit account and make payments by electronic transfer with a payment terminal and access automated teller machines (ATMs). Such cards are known by a variety of names including bank cards, ATM cards, client cards, key cards or cash cards.
An ATM card is a dedicated payment card card issued by a financial institution which enables a customer to access their financial accounts via its and others' automated teller machines (ATMs) and, in some countries, to make approved point of purchase retail transactions. ATM cards are not credit cards or debit cards, however most credit and debit cards can also act as ATM cards and that is the most common way that banks issue cards since the 2010s.
An interbank network, also known as an ATM consortium or ATM network, is a computer network that enables ATM cards issued by a financial institution that is a member of the network to be used to perform ATM transactions through ATMs that belong to another member of the network.
Electronic Payment Services, commonly known as EPS, is an electronic payment system based in Hong Kong, Macau, and with limited acceptance in Shenzhen since it began operations in 1985. The service is provided by EPS Company Limited with currently over 30,000 acceptance locations.
Network for Electronic Transfers, colloquially known as NETS, is a Singaporean electronic payment service provider. Founded in 1986 by a consortium of local banks, it aims to establish the debit network and drive the adoption of electronic payments in Singapore. It is owned by DBS Bank, OCBC Bank and United Overseas Bank (UOB).
The Malaysian Electronic Payment System (MEPS) is an interbank network service provider in Malaysia. In August 2017, MEPS merged with Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corporation Sdn Bhd (MyClear) to form Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet).
Euronet Worldwide is an American provider of global electronic payment services with headquarters in Leawood, Kansas. It offers automated teller machines (ATM), point of sale (POS) services, credit/debit card services, currency exchange and other electronic financial services and payments software. Among others, it provides the prepaid subsidiaries Transact, PaySpot, e-pay, Movilcarga, TeleRecarga and ATX.
National Financial Switch (NFS) is the largest network of shared automated teller machines (ATMs) in India. It was designed, developed and deployed by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) in 2004, with the goal of inter-connecting the ATMs in the country and facilitating convenience banking. It is run by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). As on 31st January’ 22, there were 1,203 members that includes 111 Direct, 1,045 Sub members, 43 RRBs and 4 WLAOs using NFS network connected to more than 2.55 Lac ATM (including cash deposit machines/recyclers).
Automated teller machines (ATMs) are targets for fraud, robberies and other security breaches. In the past, the main purpose of ATMs was to deliver cash in the form of banknotes, and to debit a corresponding bank account. However, ATMs are becoming more complicated and they now serve numerous functions, thus becoming a high priority target for robbers and hackers.
ALTO is an interbank network in Indonesia. It was founded in August 1993.
The National Payments Corporation of India is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India, is an initiative of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) under the provisions of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for creating a robust Payment & Settlement Infrastructure in India. It was created by RBI for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
MoneyPass is an interbank network owned by Brookfield, Wisconsin-based Fiserv, the third largest North American financial services company by revenue.
Sarvatra Technologies Private Limited is an Indian fintech company, headquartered in Pune, Maharashtra, that develops banking software and provides PaaS, SaaS, and cloud computing solutions to cooperative, private, and public sector banks in India.
{{cite news}}: |last= has generic name (help) Interbank networks by region | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Worldwide | |||
| Africa | |||
| Asia |
| ||
| Europe | |||
| North America | |||
| Oceania | |||
| South America | |||
