Wells Fargo Offers ATM Innovation

Abstract

Wells Fargo customers in Northern California will be among the first in the US to use a new ATM service that eliminates deposit envelopes and converts paper checks into digital images. Wells Fargo wil convert all of its 400 ATMs in the San Francisco Bay area counties of Contra Costs, Alameda, and Santa Clara to Envelope-Free Web ATM machines by the end of 2006.

Wells Fargo customers in Northern California will be among the first in the United States to use a new ATM service that eliminates deposit envelopes and converts paper checks into digital images.

Wells Fargo will convert all of its 400 ATMs in the San Francisco Bay Area counties of Contra Costa, Alameda, and Santa Clara to Envelope-Free WebATM® machines by the end of 2006.

"We've been piloting Envelope-Free ATMs since 2002, and the years testing the technology has given us a lot of important insight," said Jonathan Velline, head of Wells Fargo's ATM Banking division. "Customers tell us the new ATMs are easy to use, and they especially like seeing the check image on the screen and on the receipt. We also earned kudos from our consumer and small business customers for accepting stacks of bills and check deposits at one time, whereas other banks require consumers to feed checks in the machine individually-similar to what you see at vending machines-which can be too slow and cumbersome."

According to Wells Fargo, Envelope-Free ATMs offer customers some important benefits:

* Faster and easier ATM deposits- Customers can deposit stacks of bills (up to 30 bills in different denominations) and checks (up to 10) directly into the machine at one time;

* Assurance that checks or cash deposits have been received-Customers can see on-screen check images and a count of each denomination for cash deposits;

* Proof-positive receipts-Customers receive a check image of deposited checks on their receipt and an itemized listing of deposited bills;

* Instant credit for cash deposits- Funds are immediately credited to the customer's account, just as if they made a cash deposit at the teller window;

* Same day credit for check deposits- The deposit cut-off time has been extended from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (weekdays), giving customers same-day credit for deposits even after the banking store has closed;

* The ATM does the math-Customers insert cash and a listing of every deposited bill is provided on-screen. When customers insert checks the character-recognition software reads and posts an image of the check and the amount on the screen;

* Saves trees-by making envelopefree deposits, Wells Fargo customers are helping to reduce unnecessary waste; potentially saving more than a thousand trees per year and reducing air pollutants by more than a quarter million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents.