Bank of America, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Scotiabank and Westpac have launched the first global automatic teller machine (ATM) alliance, giving customers free access to more than 20,000 cash machines on three continents.
The Global ATM Alliance will make cash withdrawals free of international access fees through a combined network of automated teller machines (ATMs). Displaying the banks' logos, they will be located throughout the US, UK, Germany, Canada and Australia.
The 36 million customers of these five banks can begin using the alliance's cash machine network without charge on July 1 2001.
Bond Isaacson, payments executive, Bank of America, says: "This strategic partnership is a world first for global customer service and marks the beginning of multinational co-operation within the cash machine industry."
The founding members of the alliance have a domestic coverage of more than 23,000 ATMs. The Bank of America has more than 12,000 ATMs in the US, Barclays has more than 3,000 UK ATMs and Deutsche Bank with more than 1,800 in Germany. Scotiabank has more than 2,100 ATMs in Canada while Westpac has 1,500 ATMs in Australia.
In the coming months, the alliance says it will expand its service to include and actively pursue other members, targeting Mexico, Spain, Asia, South America and South Africa.