When it comes to designing ATMs, it is all about security. That was the message last week from transaction terminal manufacturer NCR, the firm that has about 90 per cent of the 3,000 or so machines installed in Hong Kong.
NCR launched its latest M Series Personas ATMs in the territory, boasting a slew of new safety features. These include temperature and radio frequency sensors designed to detect card readers and cameras placed illegally on the machine, and a next-generation safe made from composite materials to double the strength of existing models deployed in Hong Kong.
In fact, two of the latest units have already been deployed in X'ian by China Construction Bank as part of an overall 74-unit contract. However, with Hong Kong's streets statistically among the safest of the world's major cities, the big question is to what extent extra security will sell.
NCR's regional deployment director Keith Au Man-hong acknowledged that Hong Kong ranked far ahead of places such as Eastern Europe and Taiwan, where criminals used third-party devices to 'skim' cards - extract the relevant data through card readers - or steal personal identification numbers and even ram machines with vans before dragging them away to offload the banknotes.
Such a scenario seems inconceivable in Hong Kong, although Mr Au said that did not preclude the banks from being interested in added security.
'Globally, the trend of card spinning and card trapping is proving popular, and [just] because it is not prevalent in Hong Kong right now does not mean it could never become so,' he said.