Wells Fargo Bank is introducing new technology that will allow smartphone-toting customers to withdraw money at all of its 13,000 ATMs without inserting their debit card.
Customers wishing to use the service can get a use-only-once 8-digit code from the bank’s phone app. Customers then input the code and their ATM PIN number to access ATM options.
About 20 million Wells Fargo customers use the app, the company says.
Later this year Wells Fargo also plans to introduce a “tap and pay” ATM access service that uses “near-field communication” (NFC) technology. To use the service, owners of NFC-equipped smartphones can sign on to one of several mobile wallet apps – Wells Fargo Wallet, Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay – and hold the phone near an NFC-enabled ATM terminal before inputting their ATM PIN number. About 40% of Wells Fargo ATMs are currently NFC-enabled.
“We believe the future is cardless,” says Brett Pitts, the company’s head of digital for virtual channels.
The banking company also said Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $110 million to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from its fake-account sales tactics used by employees for several years before they were uncovered last year. To meet aggressive sales targets, bank employees created up to 2 million accounts for credit cards and other bank offerings without customers' permission.
The scandal led to the resignation of its former CEO John Stumpf and Wells Fargo's payments of $185 million last year to federal and California authorities who were investigating the company.
