Call it a “bank in a box.” ATM industry newcomer, Anytime Cash, is just finishing up beta testing of its full financial services unit. Built out from a GenMega kiosk, the new Anytime Cash unit features a host of services, including check cashing; dispensing and loading of pre-paid debit cards; mobile phone “top offs;” gift card exchanges; and, of course, all the standard ATM features. All of this in a space-thrifty unit that measures 65” H by 18” W by 23” D.
“Our goal has always been to become the first bank for the unbanked and under-banked customer,” said Anytime Cash’s Peter Del Borrello III. “By expanding outside the traditional brick and mortar store, we’re widening the financial net and meeting customers where they are. We’re bringing banking where they conduct most of their daily business. In today’s world, people need access to financial services 24/7. When stores close at five or six o clock, our customers still need access to their funds.”
The unit, as Del Borrello explained, was a collaboration between Anytime Cash and Genmega, with the ATM manufacturer providing the technical build-out of the unit. Essential to the design, he said, was getting the footprint down to the size of a standard ATM and touchscreen controls that are both familiar and guide the user through the process.
Del Borrello, who is the third generation in the family’s Philadelphia-based check cashing business, feels his experience provides unique insight into the needs of the under or un-banked. The expanded functionality of the unit is designed to conveniently serve those markets, which have been somewhat abandoned by traditional financial institutions.
The unit is currently installed in test locations in Florida and Delaware with positive results along with some surprises. “At first, we felt we’d get a large concentration of millennials using the machine, but we’ve seen it cross the generational lines. We’ve found people in the older demographic who are normally wary of technology use the machine,” Del Borrello explained. “Our demographic runs from kids with their first job at sixteen and seventeen to older retired people.” Del Borrello also noted, in many cases the transaction amount in the test sites were larger than anticipated with customers regularly cashing more than weekly payroll checks.
“This has been the unicorn of the ATM industry for the better part of 25 years. And my brother, Chris, and I were the first ones to get it right,” Del Borrello said. “I think what proved crucial was that we understand the industry and the customer base. Our past experience in the check cashing business proved really valuable.”
At present time the Anytime Cash business plan calls for a first quarter 2019 roll-out of an estimate 60 machines with distribution through ISOs and system support featuring round the clock monitoring and a 24/7 bilingual customer help line. However, Del Borrello does see the potential of additional features added at some point in the future. These would include bill paying services and money transfers. “We’ll never see a point where we’re finally ‘okay and finished,’” he said. “We see ourselves updating and adding services indefinitely to make it a fully self-serve financial kiosk.”
For Additional information, visit the Anytime Cash website at: AnytimeCash.com.