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Turkish ATM Industry Until recently, the Turkish ATM Industry at least as a phrase- was not known to Turks themselves. With 228 ATMs per million inhabitants (*), Turkey boasts a well developed ATM network which in terms of service variety and sophistication surpasses most of its counterparts in mature economies. ATM inventory in Turkey is among the most advanced in the world. Alongside cash dispensing, Turkish ATMs offer a multitude of value added services to their users as well as serving as self-service retail branches.
In the last several years, more and more Turkish banks started to extend their ATM networks towards where the consumers concentrate, such as shopping centers, and university campuses. However, most of the banking industry in Turkey, still speaks of ATMs as an alternate retail channel. That an ATM network can and should function as a primary channel is not yet a common truth, though, the Times, They are A-Changin'. The ATM scene in Turkey is set to change very fast in the coming several years. Large ATM market segments such as convenience stores, factories, hotels are still untapped in this country. Consumer demand is already there waiting to be satisfied. Larger retail banks and a few pioneering independent operators are working hard to harvest this new terrain, but there a number of logistical and structural problems that need to be addressed. A nation-wide and rational cash logistics infrastructure on which a full-fledged ATM industry needs to rely is not exactly there. More than 80% of Turkish cash is still processed and transported by the banks themselves. Independent CiT service providers have to compete with their potential customers, and struggle to be competitive without the leverage of scale and automation. As larger banks tend to stick to their proprietary ways of cash logistics (even when they consider to outsource it), common business practices do not develop, and CiT service providers can not build expertise. This is why taking ATMs to where the consumers are, is a very tedious and costly enterprise in Turkey. A dose of pain will accompany the birth of Turkish ATM industry, but a rewarding future is about to arrive. (*) As of 2007, Solice Technologies
Özcan Özbilge |
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Yet the national ATM network density is still too low compared to European and North American markets. Most ATMs are located by or in the vicinity of retail branches of the banks, functioning as an extended or outdoor service point of the branch that they belong.