Swedbank begins Baltic ATM revamp
Swedbank will overhaul its network of NCR ATMs
Swedish regional bank Swedbank is planning to roll out new ATM applications for 206 branches across the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company will also upgrade more than 150 of its ATMs as part of a new multi-channel banking strategy.
The bank will be deploying the latest NCR SelfServ 22, 25 and 31 units, which include cash recycling abilities that should help it reduce its costs by decreasing the number of cash deliveries required at branches and the time spent on cash management by staff. The maintenance of the ATMs is covered by NCR partner Hansab in all three countries.
The changes will be made using NCR’s Aptra Edge software, which uses a Windows-based XFS interface that the firm says help to facilitate an open software environment.
“Responding to customer demand for an increasingly technology-based service, as well as educating them on the benefits of modern banking channels, is fundamental to our business,” said Mihkel Roosme, head of multichannel management division at Swedbank. “To ensure that our multi-channel banking strategy delivers on this, we needed a highly integrated software and hardware solution. We have partnered with NCR for more than 20 years, so they are tuned in to our business and provide the high value solutions that turn our strategy into a reality.”
Swedbank is the descendent of Sparbanken Sverige, the savings bank of Sweden, which formed in 1992 from the merger of a number of smaller savings banks, some of which go back to the early 19th century. The current name was adopted in 2006 after a merger with Foreningsbanken. The bank has around 9.5 million retail customers and 622,000 corporate customers in the four main countries it operates in. It also cooperates with some 60 smaller local independent savings banks that chose not to join in the 1992 merger. These banks use the FSB logos and customers can use both the independent branches and the ones belonging to FSB to service their accounts.
