At Finovate: ATM Innovation for Emergency Assistance and Merchant Rebates

The ATM machine turns 50 this year, but who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? At the FinovateFall 2017 conference on September 11 in New York City, I’ll be presenting an innovative mobile cash disbursement service that turns the classic cash dispenser into a hub for emergency relief, as well as receiving merchant rebates. The cash is available for pick up – even if the beneficiary doesn’t have a bank account or a debit card.

There are situations when money needs to be sent and received as cash, particularly in emergency situations or when the recipient is unbanked. With Mastercard Cash Pick-Up®, a bank can help an individual or company send money to anyone with a valid mobile phone number. A text message is sent to a recipient’s mobile telephone providing him or her with an order number, four-digit PIN and directions to the nearest branded ATM. The cash payout is instantaneous as soon as the codes are correctly entered into the machine.

The Mastercard vision for Cash Pick-Up includes:

• Replacing lost or stolen wallets with instant cash
• Providing 24/7 emergency relief to those in need
• Sending funds or payments to the un- or underbanked
• Offering faster payments on rebates and rewards

Set to pilot in the United States in Q4 of this year, Mastercard Cash Pick-Up has the support of leading industry organizations including Payment Alliance International, the nation’s largest privately-held provider of ATMs. Mastercard is also working on making Cash Pick-Up available at ATMs located in retail stores across the country beginning in 2018. The service is initially certified to run on ATM machines manufactured by Hyosung and Genmega.

To help manage deployment, Mastercard teamed with Pin4, which has operated a similar cardless disbursement system in Spain and Poland under the brand HalCash.

Richard Witkowski, CEO of Pin4, said, “Mobile devices are commonplace and ATMs are everywhere so it made sense to leverage these technologies to create a truly open, cash network. Now, with Mastercard’s Cash Pick-Up taking that concept to their vast network, we will see a new era emerge where cash is available to everyone via their mobile devices.”

Mastercard Cash Pick-Up runs on the company’s In Control® for Commercial Payments system and leverages a patented process using virtual card numbers to securely execute cardless transactions. It also leverages Safety Net, a global tool that reduces the impact of cyber hacking of banks and processors.