Credit unions which adopt fields of membership where a significant portion of the population may not be able to read may be interested in a new ATM that NCR is testing.

Most first world consumers will probably not immediately recognize any of the so-called pillar ATMs that NCR is building.

According to published reports, the waist-high, pillar-shaped machines can be bolted or weighted to the floor or ground, will validate consumer identity through a biometric finger or thumbprint scan instead of a personal identification number, and will deliver both cash and paper receipts.

The machines have no screens. Instead of keying in the amount of their transaction, consumers will be able to hit buttons depicting a picture of that denomination, the company said.

The design was meant to resemble post office mail boxes in India, one of the likely target markets for the new ATM, the company added.

NCR envisions the machines as primarily for deployment in the developing world, but added that they would also be appropriate in areas in the first world with a lot of illiteracy or where ATM security has been a problem.

The pillar machines have been designed to make them difficult to break into and the biometric scan offers greater card security, the reports said.

Instant Insights /

NCR Developing an ATM for the Illiterate

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