Money.. 
              at your finger tips

The self-service financial market is poised to grow manifold, both in India and the world over. Customers, by and large, are seeking increased mobility and deeper levels of services with no geographical boundaries. Anytime service is the keyword now. 

ATMs have come a long way in the past thirty years. The basic functioning of the ATM system has changed very little. It always served two primary functions, a) that of establishing the identity of the user and b) that of providing the transaction services requested by the user. 

Establishing the identity of the user has changed in several subtle ways initially and quite dramatically in recent times. The entire focus of establishing the identity of a person traditionally was primarily on "what you know" and partially on "what you have" and not on "what you are". The "what you know" is in the form of a personal identification number (PIN) and the "what you have" is in the form of a card or token a user carries with him/her. There are several challenges the use of the above encounters. 

PIN authentication relies heavily on your PIN not being shared, un-intentionally. The underlying technology used for the above is encryption technology. There is complex hardware and software working full-time in the background that generates and manages the keys required for encryption. Convoluted protocols ensure that relevant clear text is never exposed. With brute force and eavesdropping attacks becoming common, key management takes an all-new meaning. Many schemes require keys to be changed on a daily basis to stay ahead of attackers.

There have been several instances where PINs have been compromised. Users find it quite burdensome to remember the PIN. Many times the PIN is written on the back of the card that is used or the PIN is based on an event like a birthday or else the PIN is associated with the license plate of the vehicle one drives. Hence the loss of a wallet or purse can get the PIN disclosed and misused. There have been several instances where other innovative approaches have been employed to get the PIN information. Telescopes have been used to monitor the key presses on a PIN pad and even in a famous case, an out of order ATM was purposely installed at a location that collected PIN information associated with card data with a message eventually getting displayed on the ATM screen that the machine was out of cash. The so collected information was then used to withdraw money from accounts whose information had become so available.

The reliance on self-service financial terminals i.e. ATMs is increasing at a phenomenal rate. Banks across the globe have realized, mainly due to intense competition, that more and more ATMs need to be deployed for extending the business reach of the bank or for freeing-up existing employees for more value adding work or as realized in some cases, to bring more transparency to the banking process. ATMs rely heavily on expensive systems at the back-end including card and PIN management systems. Typically, these two add almost 100% to the price per ATM pushing the total cost of ownership way up. In countries like India where the typical average transaction can be in the range of a few hundred rupees, it is imperative that the bang for the buck the ATM generates is more. ATMs in India also have to work in harsh environments where air-conditioning is not possible and dust and power outages are going to be common, at least in the foreseeable future. One will certainly appreciate that there is also a psychological factor that needs to be overcome. Trusting a machine to do financial transaction is viewed in mixed ways in many parts of the developing world. Lots of folks have reservations in depositing money into a machine or even withdrawing money from a machine that operates just on the pressing of numbers.

With the above in perspective Axis, in the year 2003, started examining other technologies for the purpose of authentication, mainly biometrics for ATMs. The principal challenge was that already a huge amount of investment is in place in the form of financial transaction infrastructure that the banks have invested in. A solution had to be evolved that could use the existing infrastructure and at the same time strengthen the authentication, providing ATM users with enhanced security and ease of use. Axis also endeavored to create this technology in a way wherein it could become more affordable for the deployers and consequently for the users. Cost per transaction had to go way down. Axis also focused on developing vendors internationally for the supply of very high quality parts at affordable prices that would go into the ATMs

In mid 2004, Axis started deploying its fingerprint based ATMs in rural India. The fingerprint technology used is developed by Axis and uses very high quality optical scanners. Axis successfully tested these ATMs in the very aggressive rural environment in India where sometimes fingerprint quality is below average and illiteracy is high. However Axis observed that the adoption of this new technology was overwhelmingly smooth and quick and that this new technology resulted in boosting the confidence of the users demonstrated by increase in the deposits and account activity of the bank that deployed them. Axis ATMs have proven that they can easily withstand the grind of non-urban India and that they are very low on maintenance, further pushing the operating costs down. 

In the following years, Axis further researched on the various configurations and features that would best suit a smorgasbord of ATM requirements and developed seven different models to satisfy various budget, technology, security and feature requirements. Axis manufactures these ATMs in India and exports them to various parts of the world. Axis has also developed a full-featured ATM christened -Automated Banking Machine or ABM. The ABM has other banking features like funds transfer, check truncation, loan application, loan disbursal and currency and coin acceptance.

All Axis ATMs work with popular protocols in use in the financial transaction infrastructure. All Axis ATMs also work with any type of authentication required. i.e. PIN or biometric based. Axis is generally considered the first in the world to have developed a biometric based authentication, full featured ATM.

General Features

Very Low Operating Costs

Very Low Total Cost of Ownership

Robust and fault tolerant. Can operate in non air-conditioned environment

Quick and easy to deploy. Can start using within hours of installation User friendly Displays, Optional Touch Screen

Dynamic interfaces - Intelligent audio, visual & silent alerts

Multiple language support ensures that your customers have an enjoyable use experience

Built in data encryption for secure data transfer across the network

Configuration of ATM as per client's requirement -Fully configurable. Can design ATM to suite your requirements

Can handle different types of currency, coupons, stamps

Remote alerts · Alerts on mobile

GSM, CDMA, VSAT connectivity. Excellent for rural setting

 

Special Biometric Features

Use of fingerprint for customer identification and verification - No ATM card or PIN required. Hidden costs of ATM card management includes:

• Card personalization, delivery, management, re-issuance
• PIN generation, delivery, management, help-desk, re-issuance

Biometric Sensor/Matcher

• High quality fingerprint sensor ideally suited for dry, moist and rough fingers
• Advanced image processing and pattern recognition algorithms for fingerprint verification (FBI approved)
• Intelligent and dynamic security settings
• Other biometrics like Iris, Face or even layered biometrics can be integrated

 

 

Axis Biometric Retrofit Kits for ATMs  

Axis has developed an innovative new product called the Biometric Retrofit Kit for ATMs. This kit converts a regular ATM to a biometric based, either fingerprint or iris, ATM. This very easy to deploy kit is very affordably priced. This kit has generated a huge interest among financial institutions.  

 

 

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