Wells Fargo bank has made a couple of pretty huge announcements. The institution said that it will soon allow customers to have card-free access to all of its 13,000 ATMs. Customers will soon be able to authenticate themselves at one of the bank’s ATMs using an 8-digit token and their debit or ATM card Personal Identification Number (PIN). So basically, this will make a physical card completely redundant and customers will be walk around and withdraw money from ATMs at will.
So here is how this works: Customers log into the Wells Fargo mobile app and choose Card-Free ATM access under Account Services. Once there, they can ask for a single-use, 8-digit access code. Then, it is a simple matter of entering the ATM, entering your one time code followed by the pin and then proceeding with your transactions. Do you see the beauty of the process here? The physical card is replaced by a single use code.
Speaking on the topic, Brett Pitts, head of digital for Virtual Channels said:
At Wells Fargo, we believe the future is cardless, and the launch of One-Time Access Code provides our 20 million mobile banking customers another convenient way to manage money. This new ATM feature exemplifies Wells Fargo’s commitment to innovation.
Jonathan Velline, head of branch and ATM banking added:
Every time a customer walks up to an ATM or into a branch, chances are they’re carrying a phone, and we believe the real power of mobile is the ability to enhance the customer experience at our ATMs and branches. We’re excited to provide our customers with more ways to conveniently and securely make ATM transactions.
Customers will also be able to initiate a cardless ATM transaction later this year using a “tap and pay” technology. For this, they must have an NFC-enabled smartphone. Assuming that this prerequisite is met, customer will be able to initiate a transaction by signing into most leading mobile payment service providers (including Wells Fargo Wallet, Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay), and complete their transactions by holding their device phone near an NFC-enabled ATM terminal. The service is likely to get into mass-usage pretty quickly considering that over 40 percent (more than 5,000) of Wells Fargo ATMs are already NFC-enabled.
