Hungary's Own Kiosks

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Cost-effectiveness, especially in the current economic situation, has become a particularly important issue for banks and financial service providers. We are now seeing an increasing number of tiny, automated bank branches opening up, or 24-hour lobby zones appearing in the forefronts of current ones. These new locations are host to a variety of different types of automated machine, which cannow complete many other transactions apart from the usual cash-in and cash-out ATM services.
 
Such devices minimise the need for human resources and expensive office space, and greatly increase the number of satisfied clients. Clerks and banking consultants can offer a higher addedvalue service, since automated machines can take over the simpler operations. The kinds of services available in today’s banks seemed unimaginable just a few years ago – back in the 1990s who would have thought about downloading ringtones, playing the lottery and buying theatre tickets while checking the balance on your savings account?

The new BankLine product family from Hungarian manufacturer Aquis, besides traditional e-banking transactions, printing balance sheets and information display services, can also handle bill payments (using a barcode or OCR reader), card or cash shopping (using an authorised PIN pad and card reader, banknote and coin acceptance, money recycling and returning units, and event ticket selling. Aquis says hat installing their equipment will provide a return on investment within just one year, in terms of the cost of a human customer service officer performing the same transactions. So far, units of the BankLine product family have only been introduced to the branches of KBC Bank in Hungary, but there are currently implementations in the pipeline for Italy and Romania, as well. By taking advantage of the BankLine’s image reader, KBC Bank has been able to win business and clients from competitor Hungarian Post, who is currently the market leader in the field of collecting fees for public supplies such as electricity, gas and water.
 
Another member of the same Aquis family, the TicketLine kiosk can issue event and public transportation tickets, and there is also an option to purchase insurance policies on the spot. One telecommunication company even plans to use  the kiosks to purchase mobile phones and services without having to employ a cashier.