Cash dispensers

Automatic teller machines (ATM)

21 July 1999

ICL launches first cashpoint that automatically pays your bills

Egyptian Bank is first to adopt scan-in service

ICL, the IT services company, has designed the first cash dispenser (CD) with a bill paying facility.  The new CD incorporates a barcode scanner, which allows customers to pay bills automatically from their bank accounts, as well for traditional cash withdrawals and to check account balances.

Banque du Caire, Egypt’s third largest bank, is the first organisation to adopt the new technology in a bid to reduce queues in branches and offer customers a more convenient service.  ICL will design and integrate 100 new cash dispensers for the bank in a deal worth £2.4million. 

The first people to be able to use the service will be customers of an Egyptian national mobile phone network.  Their phone bills will incorporate a barcode holding details of the amount due, as well as their bank account number at the Banque du Caire.  The customer simply sweeps the barcode over the scanner at the cashpoint, keys in their PIN number and the bill is paid.

Tom Martin, Lifestyle self service director, ICL said, “Banque du Caire recognises that the new cashpoint service will be welcomed by customers and reduce the pressure on branch tellers, which is a major problem for many Egyptian banks.

This service forms part of ICL’s Lifestyle portfolio which uses innovative IT to enable financial institutions, like Banque du Caire, to deliver services that meet their customers’ needs anytime.”  

Hassan Nasr, IT director, at Banque du Caire, said “The Egyptian market is getting extremely competitive and our key objective is to improve the service we offer our customers.  That means finding ways to provide them with facilities that are faster and easy to use.   We chose ICL because they understood our needs and were able to deliver a flexible and creative solution that met the needs of our market.”