Electronic Banking Goes Beyond Basics
The inside of a bank is becoming unfamiliar territory to many Americans.
In the past five years, the number of automated teller machines (ATMs) has gone from 72,000 to 87,000. In 1992, a third of all banking transactions were completed outside of banks. Now banks are racing to offer their customers even more electronic banking options.
Signet Banking Corp. in Richmond, Va., recently introduced Touch Tone billing. Customers set up a list of “merchants” (utilities, landlords, even relatives) to be paid by automatic or occasional payments. Customers can access their lists of merchants by touch-tone telephone and authorize payment by entering an identification number and account numbers. The service is available 24 hours a day and costs $6.95 a month for the first 15 merchants, a Signet spokeswoman said.
“Customer relationships with banks are changing, especially with those 35 and under who are used to electronic banking,” said John Hall of the American Bankers Assn.
Bankers’ hours have become increasingly more inconvenient for Americans, he said.
Even some investment transactions are beginning to be handled without the assistance of bank or investment company personnel. Last spring, Citicorp in New York gave customers access to their mutual funds through ATMs, enabling investors to check balances and transactions. Now customers can transfer money to buy or sell shares, Citicorp spokeswoman Susan Weeks said.
But investment possibilities through ATMs are still limited, said Richard Ross of Investment Marketing Corp. in Northfield, Ill. Although current regulations do not allow the initial sale of mutual funds without a prospectus, investors can buy or sell additional shares through ATMs after they have made their first purchase.
Expanding ATM options and instituting other self-service devices are ways to beat the competition, said Henry McLain of NCR in Dayton, Ohio, a manufacturer of ATMs. Machines now offer postage stamps and subway tokens, he said, and may soon offer theater tickets.
