Some good and innovative news out of Wells Fargo for a change. The stagecoach bank will be the first to let you access their branded ATM's WITHOUT a card. Cardless banking is here and smartphone technology rules. Good news EXCEPT if you manufacture those plastic debit cards.
(Bill Taylor/CEO)
Starting on Monday, Wells Fargo & Co depositors can withdraw money using a smartphone at any branded ATM, the latest sign of U.S. lenders moving away from traditional brick-and-mortar banking.
Jonathan Velline, Wells Fargo's head of ATM and branch banking, said that the San Francisco-based bank decided to apply the smartphone technology to all of its 13,000 cash machines after piloting the idea in select locations across the country.
Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co are among the big banks that have announced digital upgrades to their ATM infrastructure, but Wells Fargo is the first U.S. bank to roll out cardless machines across its entire network.
The 20 million customers on Wells Fargo's mobile banking app will be able to request an eight-digit code to enter along with their personal identification code at an ATM to retrieve cash.
"The new feature allows customers to withdraw cash at any time, even when they don't have their cards on them," Velline said.
The new option will also improve protections against data theft, Velline said....
Read Full Article at Reuters