Source: Wincor Nixdorf
Wincor Nixdorf has installed the world's most northerly cash recycling system at the branch of Sparebank1 Nord-Norge, a Norwegian savings bank, on the island of Spitzbergen. The CINEO C4060 supplies banknotes and coins to the 2,100 inhabitants of Longyearbyen and almost 100,000 tourists each year. "It is extremely important for the only cash system in the town to be highly available and reliable," says Trond Hellstad, Sparebank1 Nord-Norge branch manager on Spitzbergen.
After positive experiences with the reliability of CINEO cash recycling systems at other branches in Norway, Sparebank1 Nord-Norge decided to deploy the system on Spitzbergen too. It was installed in May this year to handle note and coin deposit and dispensing transactions.
Faults are not an option for the bank. It has to be able to rely on the solution. “Our branch staff must be able to rectify note jams, which can be caused by notes of poor quality, quickly and easily”, Trond Hellstad explains. Any service technician needed would have to be flown in, but the plane from Norway comes just three times a week.
The machine is particularly important for supplying cash to the many tourists who, especially in the summer, arrive on cruise liners at Longyearbyen’s port and want to spend money in the town’s stores and restaurants. Local businesses return the notes and coins to the system, which validates them and makes them available again for withdrawal.
Even if a more serious fault occurs, the four employees at the Sparebank1 branch take a do-it-yourself approach as a rule. “Here, we are used to solving problems ourselves,” Mr. Hellstad points out. With some support by phone from Wincor Nixdorf, that has always worked out so far. The hands-on branch manager knows that the system’s easy serviceability makes it ideal for a scenario like this.