Excerpt from ATM DEBIT & NEWS
Thursday, May 26, 2005

Several high-profile ATM acquisitions among independent sales organizations have occurred in the last year, leading to an unprecedented consolidation of the industry. But even the largest ISOs are not protected from an industry wide slump in transaction volumes, a new survey of ATM ISOs by ATM Debit & News shows.

While Cardtronics and TRM together operate 17.6% of the estimated 263,000 off-premise ATMs and 12% of all ATMs in the nation (ADN 4/21/05), the top-two ISOs report lackluster transaction volumes. Cardtronics reports having "stable" transaction volumes, while TRM experienced a 10.1% decline in monthly transaction volume as of the end of 2004.

Some ISOs, ironically, find lifting surcharges on machines by joining surcharge-free networks an effective way to keep volumes stable.

Atlanta-based NetBank Inc., the third largest ISO with 8,334 ATMs under contract, reports stable transaction volumes. Tommy Glenn, president of NetBank Payment Systems, attributes Net Bank's stable volumes to its partnership with the Bethesda, Md.-based Allpoint surcharge-free network. "Being part of a surcharge-free network has helped," Glenn says.