People’s United Financial Inc has installed some of the highest tech ATMs in the nation in its Manhattan branch.
NCR, the guys who make the ATMS and self-checkout kiosks in supermarkets and for airlines, announced the installation of the first smart card machines in the U.S. for People’s.
“They should get a lot of credit for being ahead of the curve,” said an NCR spokesman.
The major card payment companies, including Visa and MasterCard, have issued new specifications to improve consumer security and banks are expected to go to a chip and pin card in America that’s widely used in Europe and Canada.
Chip and pin cards have microchips embedded in them and are considered more secure. Had cards in the U.S. been of this type, according to NCR, it would have made it more difficult for an international ring of thieves to steal $45 million recently.
Many European countries have been on this system since 1996.
People’s had not yet posted a press release announcing the move or when it would be providing customers with the cards or plans to convert the rest of its ATM system.
It should be noted, the ATMs will accept our regular, less-secure cards.
People’s shares are trading near a 52-week high at $14.23 on Wednesday. The bank’s shares hit their highest value in a year this month.






