The Strategic Value of Closed Cash Ecosystems for Financial Institutions

Operating efficiency and experiences among customers and employees are core decision-making criteria at financial institutions. A closed cash ecosystem, which is an innovative approach to managing cash, can positively impact branch operations and the experiences of its customers and employees.

A closed cash ecosystem is a system where cash is efficiently circulated within and between branches and ATMs without manual handling, eliminating the need to manage ATM and branch cash separately. It involves hardware, such as interchangeable cash cassettes between Teller Cash Recyclers (TCRs) and deposit-accepting ATMs. It also involves software, including automated cash forecasting and integrated monitoring and servicing.

Financial institutions strive to streamline branch operations and reduce costs. ATM cash shortages and excesses, Cash-In-Transit (CIT), branch labor costs, security risks associated with moving cash, and managing hardware and software vendors are just a few of the pain points branch staff deal with every day. These issues are compounded by the current high interest rate environment, leading to an increased cost of cash. Adopting a closed cash ecosystem will solve or mitigate these efficiency pain points. By unifying cash into one system, a financial institution will experience reduced cash shortages/excesses, reduced CIT visits or branch staff ATM interactions, and will have one contact point for all cash hardware and software. A closed cash ecosystem also improves branch security since cash being moved is enclosed in the cassettes.

Additionally, incorporating a closed cash ecosystem will improve employee satisfaction by reducing the time branch staff directly contacts cash. Branch staff manually counting cash being deposited or withdrawn by a customer would be eliminated. ATM deposit bin sweeps and withdrawal cassette replenishments would be completed by branch staff or CIT within a few minutes through a simple swap-out of cassettes; cash would no longer be loaded manually into the ATM. Eliminating or reducing these mundane and laborious tasks will allow branch staff to spend more time doing what they do best: speaking to customers to resolve problems and developing customer relationships.

Customer experience is at the forefront of every financial institution leader, and with consumers continued use of cash, investment in cash operations is critical. A closed cash ecosystem will improve branch CX by reducing branch wait times and allowing employees to have “heads-up” conversations rather than “heads down” cash counting interactions. Furthermore, this technology can optimize cash levels across ATMs and TCRs, reducing ATM out-of-cash and deposit bin full errors, which improves ATM uptime.

In summary, closed cash ecosystem technology provides a strategic advantage for financial institutions to combat efficiency headwinds while driving positive experiences among their customers and employees.