End of cash AND end of plastic? JPMorgan installing card-free ATMs

The end of cash is one of the biggest trends happening all over the developed world. The logical conclusion is that cash will be replaced by plastic. Not so. In fact, the next trend could be the end of plastic as well.

Later this year, JPMorgan Chase will install brand new, state-of-the-art ATMs that will permit customers to conduct their banking business – withdrawing cash, transferring money or other types of transactions – by using their mobile phones (in the meantime).

That’s right. No longer will you be required to use a card.

The first generation of these ATMs see customers accessing their money by inserting a code placed on their Chase mobile app. In the future, updates will consist of ATMs allowing customers to use their smartphones’ near-field wireless communication feature to access their bank accounts.

Moreover, the newest updates will include upgrades to existing machines to take out a greater sum of money in various denominations. The withdrawal limit will be expanded to $3,000. Some of the other ATM features will include enabling customers to cash checks and paying credit card bills as well as mortgages.

Indeed, this is just the first step towards your local branch not having a single human bank teller.

As of late, JPMorgan Chase and other financial institutions have been installing tehse new and upgraded ATMs. All of this is part of an effort to get rid of bank tellers at every single branch. It makes business sense considering that more transactions are completed through ATMs than tellers.

With that being said, a small number of tellers will still be employed by the banks, but will serve in a specialized customer service capacity. They’ll also be working the floor to assist customers in working through the new machines.

As previously noted, many banks have embraced the idea of a zero-teller branch.

In the city of Toronto, one CIBC branch has gone completely digital. The uptown branch has no tellers and will only offer a digital service for every withdrawal and deposit requirement. Tellers will be placed in the branch, but they’ll just serve helpers to navigate through the ATM.

Here is what a local newspaper writes:

“Early in October CIBC’s new CEO Victor Dodig announced his intention to take the bank into new territory where it could “deepen relationships through digital” with customers. It seems certain that at least some customers will struggle with just how warm a digital relationship might be but the bank is pressing on. The Bank of Montreal is making similar all-digital sounds. Anyone listening to the earlier announcement might have guessed that there was precious little additional digital possible in banking as we understand it, apart from no tellers.”

This isn’t the end of the advancement in ATMs.

A study released last summer found that banks will buy into biometrics by the year 2020. Within the next four years, financial institutions will utilize biometrics as a primary banking ID method for withdrawing cash, accessing web-based services and proving your identification.

Of course, this is just the transition away from cash as we will all soon pay with mobile phones, eye scans and heartbeats. But it also means the end of plastic for the most part, anyway.

–AM