Five of the world's leading financial institutions have announced they are joining forces to create the first-ever global ATM alliance.
The group's first major initiative will be to provide more than 36 million people free access to around 20,000 cash machines when travelling overseas.
The five founding banks in the Alliance – Westpac, Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank/Deutsche Bank 24and Scotiabank will offer their customers the benefit of no international access fees for using member banks ATMs around the world.
From July 1, customers will be able to withdraw cash using their Westpac Handycard without being charged any access fees by either their home bank or other Alliance member banks, from more than 20,000 ATMs in US, UK, Canada and Germany. Ultimately, the alliance aims to expand its service to every continent of the world.
Initially, the access fee waiver will apply to transactions using a Westpac Handycard performed at member ATMs in the following locations:
- Bank of America – more than 12,000 ATMs throughout the US
- Barclays – in excess of 3,000 ATMs throughout the UK
- Deutsche Bank/ Deutsche Bank 24 - 1,800-plus ATMs throughout Germany
- Scotiabank - over 2,100 ATMs throughout Canada.
In time, this will be extended to enable customers of any member bank to use their debit card at cash machines that display the logos of any member anywhere in the world.