Diebold Secures 6,000 ATM Orders From China's Largest Bank & Oil Company to Ready For the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games

Implications: Some of China's largest banks and its largest oil company Sinopec, has placed orders for 6,000 of Diebold's Opteva ATMs for installation at local banks and fuel stations in Beijing, in an effort to provide greater access to cash and financial services at the ATM. The banks sought out Sinopec because its fuel stations are located in Beijing's busiest commercial areas and around primary business districts, which should attribute to higher transaction volumes at ATMs installed at these locations. Between 1993 and 2006, China's number of ATMs grew by a CAGR of 43% to 102,000 ATMs and ATM installations are expected to increase by a CAGR of 20% to 233,000 ATMs by 2010. ATM transaction volumes and profitability are slowing in the U.S., Canada, Spain, Japan and the U.K., due to market saturation, however, in markets such as China, India, Russia and others, explosive growth has occurred in the last five years and over the next few years that growth is expected to be even greater. 

Analysis: The rapid development of banking services in China represents a significant opportunity for ATM vendors such as Diebold, who received 6,000 ATM orders from China's local banks and largest fuel station, Sinopec, to gear up for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Sinopec has over 260+ fuel stations in Beijing and other metropolitan areas and Sinopec is working to revamp their fuel stations before the 2008 Olympics to offer additional services such as quick service restaurants, drive-thru lanes, automated car washes, C-stores and more. The banks tapped Sinopec as a partner to install ATMs off-premise where Sinopec fuel stations are conveniently located.

1.  Diebold's Opteva ATMs run on Microsoft Windows based multi-vendor software, which allows financial institutions to manage customer relationships, meet their needs and market to them simultaneously

2.  China's ATMs are concentrated mostly in urban areas and major growth is expected to come from mid-size and small cities as well as suburban areas and the Chinese market is prone to ATM thefts and fraud and Diebold's Advanced Skimming Detection technology that is integrated into its Opteva ATMs should help curtail fraud at the ATM in China by preventing fraudsters from retrieving customers' account information from the ATM card's magnetic strip via a skimming device that can be mounted onto the ATM

Takeaway:  Diebold's Agilis software will allow China's banks to personalize solutions for its customers to support specific locales and languages, one-on-one marketing campaigns, segmented advertising messages, ATM screen customization, detailed marketing reports on usage, views and prospect lists, which may afford banks the ability to cross sell and upsell their products and services at the ATM. Diebold sees the China market as an opportunity for growth and expansion as it helps local banks prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and beyond, to meet the needs of its customers by offering advanced-functionality ATMs to improve the banks' self-service networks.