A Talking ATM is a type of automated teller machine (ATM) that provides audible instructions so that persons who cannot read an ATM screen can independently use the machine. All audible information is delivered privately through a standard headphone jack on the face of the machine or a separately attached telephone handset. Information is delivered to the customer either through pre-recorded sound files or via text-to-speech speech synthesis.
The world's first talking ATM for the blind was an NCR machine unveiled by the Royal Bank of Canada on October 22, 1997, at a bank branch on the corner of Bank Street and Queen Street in Ottawa, Ontario. The talking ATM was a result of concerns Chris and Marie Stark, two blind customers, raised with the bank beginning in 1984. Their concerns turned into a discrimination complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 1991. [1] The machine was manufactured by NCR and adapted by Ottawa-based T-Base Communications at a cost of about $500,000 Canadian dollars. [2]
A user plugs a standard headset into the jack, and can hear instructions such as "press 1 for withdrawal", "press 2 for deposit." There is an audible orientation for first time users, and audible information describing the location of features such as the number keypad, deposit slot, and card slot. [3]
With the increasing processing power available inside ATMs today, most ATM manufacturers provide the ability to connect headsets to their ATMs. Speech features are now available from lower-cost ATM producers, which means that the technology should gradually appear in off-premises ATM installations as equipment wears out and is replaced.[ citation needed ]
National Australia Bank and Westpac have deployed talking ATMs. [4]
By 2002 Royal Bank had 15 talking ATMs in operation and announced that an additional 250 units would be installed. [5] [6]
Metrobank uses talking ATMs.
Yapı ve Kredi Bankası implemented the first Talking ATMs in Turkey in December 2010. The Talking ATM function is specifically designed for visually impaired or partially sighted customers of Yapi Kredi or other banks. Utilising the text-to-speech technology, customers can perform cash withdrawal or balance inquiry transactions via Talking ATMs. The audible transaction starts when a headphone plug is connected to the Talking ATM's headphone jack, and is terminated for security when the jack is disconnected. Optionally, the customer may select to mask the account information on the ATM screen.
Barclays is the only major high street bank in the UK to have deployed Talking ATMs at scale. Over 80% of their 4,100 ATMs now offer the functionality. This includes the 800 ATMs at ASDA superstores which are operated by Barclays. In addition, Northern Bank in the UK have deployed 85 talking cash machines out of their estate of over 200 which amounts to 40 per cent of their estate. Most recent machines installed by banks include a standard audio jack for blind persons to interact with the machine, but these facilities have not yet been enabled. [8] [9] [10] [11]
In 2011 the UK's leading charity for blind and partially sighted people, RNIB, launched a campaign to get major banks to install talking cash machines. [12] They had also been working with LOCOG from 2009 to ensure that talking cashpoints would be provided in the Olympic Park for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. However, a few weeks before the Games, sponsor and sole provider Visa announced that they would only be able to install the necessary software in time on two machines. [13]
In April 2013 RBS publicly announced as part of their 2012 Sustainability report that they would be installing Talking ATMs from 2014 onwards, as part of a wider ATM upgrade. [14]
The first public actions in the United States to achieve ATM access for the blind occurred in June 1999. On June 3, Mellon Bank and PNC Bank were sued in federal courts in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh respectively. [15] On June 25, 1999, Wells Fargo became the first major bank in the United States to commit to installing talking ATMs. In a legal settlement with blind community leaders, the bank agreed to install a talking ATM at all of its 1,500 ATM locations in California. The company has subsequently installed talking ATMs at all ATM locations in all states. [16] In July 1999, Citibank agreed to pilot five talking ATMs in and around San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Citibank machine represented a unique engineering and research challenge as it uses a touch screen interface and has no function keys to offer access to the blind. All Citibank locations with this kind of machine have been adapted with talking functionality. [17]
The first talking ATM in the United States was a Diebold machine installed on October 1, 1999, in San Francisco's City Hall by the San Francisco Federal Credit Union. Like the Royal Bank machine, it was adapted by T-Base Communications. [18] In March 2000, Bank of America became the first financial institution to commit to installing a talking ATM at all of its ATM locations nationwide. A legal settlement called for the installation of hundreds of machines with later negotiations for a schedule for the remainder.
By 2012, there were in excess of 100,000 talking ATM's in the USA. [12]
In 2012, one of the leading Public Sector Bank Union Bank of India unveiled India's first ever Truly Accessible and Talking ATM [19] in Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, Gujarat on 6 June 2012 for visually and physically disabled people. Union Bank of India has done pioneer work on Talking ATM in India. Union Bank's Talking ATM model and workflow has set a benchmark. The bank has also developed Talking ATM usage accessible manuals in DAISY and electronic Braille formats. List of talking ATMs locations and accessible instructions manuals can be easily downloaded from bank's website. [20]
On October 4, 2012 State Bank of India, India's largest Public Sector Bank, launched its first and Real Talking ATM in New Delhi. [21] State Bank of India has done large scale deployment of Talking ATM across India. State Bank inaugurated its 5555th Talking ATM on 1 July 2014. [22]
Few more banks namely Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank, Citibank, HSBC [23] and more public sector banks, private banks, cooperative banks in India have either deployed or taken good initiatives on Talking ATMs for the blind.
A repository of Talking ATM addresses of banks in India is made available by 'Talking ATM India Locator' website which is a voluntary and non-commercial service. [24]
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 cards 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.
The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. The charity affords practical and emotional support to those affected by sight issues and acts as an advocacy body.
HSBC Bank Canada, formerly the Hongkong Bank of Canada (HBC), is a Canadian chartered bank and the Canadian subsidiary of British multinational banking and financial services company HSBC. HSBC Canada is the seventh largest bank in Canada, with offices in every province except Prince Edward Island, and is the largest foreign-owned bank in the country. The corporate headquarters are located at the HSBC Canada Building in the downtown core's financial district of Vancouver, British Columbia. HSBC Bank Canada's Institution Number is 016.
The New York Currency Exchange (NYCE) is an interbank network connecting the ATMs of various financial institutions in the United States and Canada. NYCE also serves as an EFTPOS network for NYCE-linked ATM cards.
John Adrian Shepherd-BarronOBE was an India-born British inventor, who led the team that installed the first cash machine, sometimes referred to as the automated teller machine or ATM.
JETCO, officially Joint Electronic Teller Services Limited is a network of automatic teller machines in Hong Kong and Macau.
Mondex was a smart card electronic cash system, implemented as a stored-value card and owned by Mastercard.
Citibank Singapore Limited is a division of Citibank N.A. of the United States and incorporated in Singapore on 28 June 2004. Its parent was awarded Qualifying Full Bank (QFB) status on 20 October 1999, and this status was transferred to the Singapore division on the day of its incorporation. The bank has a shared automated teller machine (ATM) network with HSBC, State Bank of India, Maybank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of China, and Standard Chartered Singapore called atm5.
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.
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).
ATM usage fees are the fees that many banks and interbank networks charge for the use of their automated teller machines (ATMs). In some cases, these fees are assessed solely for non-members of the bank; in other cases, they apply to all users. There is usually a higher fee for use of White-label ATMs rather than bank owned ATMs.
Cashnet is an interbank network in India managed by Euronet Services India Pvt. Ltd. which is a subsidiary of Euronet Worldwide.
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).
CashPool is a cooperation of a multitude of smaller or virtual German private banks, in which they mutually waive ATM usage fees for their customers. It is not an interbank network but uses the pre-existing German ATM or Maestro/Cirrus networks. With more than 3200 ATMs, the cooperating banks' ATM networks form the smallest ATM group in Germany.
The Benefit Company (TBC) is the local switch in the Kingdom of Bahrain handling ATM and POS transactions among other services. Established in 1997 with a special license from the Central Bank of Bahrain as "Provider of Ancillary Services to the Financial Sector", it is the only financial network of its kind in the country.
Citibank Berhad is a licensed commercial bank operating in Malaysia with its headquarters in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. Citibank Berhad operates as a subsidiary of Citigroup Holding (Singapore) Private Limited, commencing its banking operations in Malaysia since 1959. Citibank Berhad was locally incorporated in 1994. Citibank Berhad has 11 branches spread across Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Kuantan, Malacca and Johor, offering a wide range of banking and financial services including retail banking, institutional banking, and investment products and services.
Citibank Philippines was the Philippines branch of Citibank. In July 1902, the International Banking Corporation, a predecessor to Citibank, opened its first branch in Manila. It was the largest commercial bank in the Philippines.
Text to speech in digital television refers to digital television products that use speech synthesis to enable access to blind or partially sighted people. By combining a digital television with a speech synthesis engine, blind and partially sighted people are able to access information that is normally displayed visually in order to operate the menus and electronic program guides of the receiver.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link), ATMmarketplace.com, 2002.