What will the ATM industry look like in 2024?
This article presents a few key observations from industry experts to give a sense of where the ATM landscape may be heading in the very near future. It draws heavily from KAL and ATM Marketplace’s 2023 ATM & Self-Service Software Trends Report including responses from hundreds of global ATM industry professionals.
1. Increased reliance on ATMs will continue for banks.
Our annual reports have observed the growing importance of ATMs within bank strategies for several years. 45% of the financial institutions we surveyed in 2022 reported an increased reliance on ATMs compared to the year before. By 2023, this experience was shared by the majority (53%) of banks – driven by factors such as cost optimization, changing branch footprints, customer preferences and public access to cash. Growing reliance on ATMs may persist in keeping with broader market trends, as consumers continue to demand access to cash.
2. The demand for modern ATM host systems is likely to grow.
End-of-life deadlines will force some financial institutions to migrate from legacy ATM host systems in 2024 and beyond. Many banks have expressed an interest in alternative solutions. This interest is mainly motivated by the desire to accelerate software development cycles and support new features quickly. Our most recent report revealed that 31% of banks utilized outsourced ATM host processing in 2023 for terminal driving, acquiring, and switching while many banks with in-house systems seek new, flexible, reliable, and modern technologies.
3. Banks need to ensure they are ready for new PCI security mandates.
The ‘Key Block’ requirement from the PCI Security Standards Council will impact all merchant hosts, ATMs and POS devices that do not yet support acceptable cryptographic methods. This requirement will be effective from 1 January 2025 (an extension of the original June 2023 deadline). All ATM deployers must ensure that they comply with this mandate for remote key loading, which is intended to reinforce key management and protect sensitive data such as PINs.
4. More ATM deployers will implement cash recycling and automation solutions.
According to reports from RBR Data Services, the global number of cash recycling ATMs and other automated deposit terminals will reach 1.7 million terminals by 2026. As ATM deployers seek new ways to optimize the cash cycle and reduce ATM running costs, recycling banknotes and coins provides a highly practical, cost-effective solution.
Many organizations are already utilizing cash recycling functionality to:
- Reduce cash-in-transit costs
- Facilitate rapid and secure cash deposits
- Decrease the risk of ATM cash shortages (boosting overall availability)
5. The adoption of convenient identification methods is expected to grow at ATMs.
According to our 2023 ATM Software Trends Report, many banks are now using mobile integration, fingerprint/vein biometrics, facial recognition and contactless technologies to make the ATM customer experience more secure and convenient. Some banks are also using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide better experiences and decrease costs related to human effort.
Data from the fintech publication PYMNTS indicates that biometric technology is now the most popular authentication method for consumers in online contexts. Discussing biometrics and other advanced ATM identification methods, KAL’s Global Head of Engineering Kader Baadoud recently commented:
Some of our customers are really leveraging these technologies…but not all of them are ready from an infrastructure perspective. It will be interesting to see how different countries, markets and legislations manage this over the next few years.
6. The integration between ATMs and other banking channels will tighten.
Omnichannel experiences have become so vital in the retail world that researchers from McKinsey describe the multi-channel approach as a ‘requirement for survival.’ In keeping with this dynamic, banking customers expect to readily flow between channels to achieve their desired results.
For example, the look and feel should remain consistent and the user interaction should be seamless when initiating a withdrawal transaction from a mobile banking app and collecting cash from an ATM. User interface improvements were the most popular type of customer-facing ATM functionality enhancement in 2023, as 58% of banks enriched their on-screen ATM look-and-feel.
7. Banks will continue to optimize ATM operational costs and transaction services.
As banks rethink how they deliver services, many want to migrate more transactions to the lower-cost ATM channel. This shift enables branch staff to focus on specialized banking services while enriching the ATM experience so customers can act more independently. To help with this transition, banks are utilizing video conferencing / remote teller assist functionality to enable ATM transactions that would otherwise be limited to over-the-counter branch transactions (for example, cash withdrawals above the standard daily limit). Our latest trends survey also revealed that 55% are implementing operational improvements to optimize costs, as opposed to decreasing ATM fleet sizes.
8. TPMs (Trusted Platform Modules) will remain ATM security ‘must-haves’.
In 2021, one in four banks in our ATM Software Trends Report said they were leveraging the TPM - a tiny semiconductor device that is the root-of-trust for all security on PC-based networks. 31% of banks adopted this strategy during the following year, and we saw another significant increase in 2023, when TPM use rose to 54%.
Based on recent comments from industry colleagues, most ATM deployers are either reinforcing their networks with TPMs or making broader purchase decisions that will allow them to do so in the future.
9. Bank interest in alternative operating systems and the cloud will persist.
The intrigue surrounding alternative ATM operating systems (OS) is growing. While Windows remains the conventional option, banks continue to express interest in alternative systems like Linux. Between 2018 and 2022, the proportion of our survey respondents who were investigating OS alternatives to Windows grew from 9% to 12%. By 2023, 38% of banks said they were exploring options, while 7% expressed concrete plans to migrate to non-Windows solutions. Meanwhile, interest in using cloud technology has steadily increased as ATM deployers look to the future.
The XFS4IoT standard for ATMs holds incredible promise by enabling banks to switch to the operating systems of their choice. KAL’s open-source framework (XFS4IoT SP-Dev) and supporting workgroup are helping the industry embrace this new XFS software standard.
10. The growing popularity of outsourced ATM services is likely to continue.
Back in 2018, only 7% of the banks we surveyed were using outsourced ATM services, while around 20% planned to do so in the future. By the following year, 39% of banks were running their ATM networks with help from at least one third-party provider. In 2023, the demand persisted, and we gained a more detailed understanding of the outsourced services that banks are currently leveraging.
Outsourced bank ATM services include:
- Daily monitoring and management (40%)
- Software development and testing (31%)
- ATM host processing (31%)
- All ATM responsibilities (29%)
For a further 13% of banks, third-party support is an effective way to reduce ATM network operating costs.
Learn more about the latest ATM industry trends
The 2023 ATM & Self-Service Software Trends Report is the 16th edition of KAL’s number one annual research project with ATM Marketplace. Published in November 2023, it is shaped by diverse sources – including external data, an independent survey, and one-to-one interviews with many global colleagues.
The original 30-page PDF is freely available for all ATM industry stakeholders to download, along with a 60-minute recorded webinar featuring special guests from Regions Bank and Payment Redesign Ltd.
Contact us
To find out how KAL software can help you align your ATM network with the latest market trends, please contact our global experts by emailing