Both Bank Of America and Wells Fargo are working on integrating Apple Pay into their ATMs, reports TechCrunch. The outlet says it has learned that ATM engineers from the two companies have been placed on assignments to build out support for Apple’s digital wallet.
When questioned, Wells Fargo’s head of ATMs Jonathan Velline implied that the report holds water, telling TechCrunch his team has been working on the technology that will allow the bank to hook into digital wallets to replace the need for cards during ATM transactions.
“Right now the wallet that we support is Android Pay. But we’re also looking at lots of different mobile wallets and evaluating which ones are going to be appropriate for our customers. We’ll likely add more mobile wallets throughout the year. We recognize our customers are going to have lots of different types of wallets based on their device, based on their bank, based on their OS, and we’re going to continue to find the right balance of which wallets we’re going to support. Right now the initial launch is with Android Pay, but that doesn’t limit us from considering other mobile wallets.”
Bank of America was less open about its plans, but told TechCrunch that it’s building a card-less ATM solution that it plans to start rolling out in February to major cities like San Francisco, New York and Boston. The company has more than 16,000 ATMs across the country.
Launched in the fall of 2014, Apple Pay allows users to pay for goods and services, both in-store and online, using a compatible device. The feature, as with most mobile payment services, has gotten off to a slow start, but has been often praised for its ease-of-use and security.
Source: TechCrunch