AFTAs 2016: Best IT Integration Initiative—Bank of America

That's the vision Bank of America has, a vision that won this year's best IT integration initiative category in this year's American Financial Technology Awards.

It’s the second win for BofA in the category, the first of which came in 2013, and marks the first time in the category’s history a firm has won multiple times, which is a nod toward the Charlotte-based bank’s constant drive to take on exciting and creative technology projects.

To utilize the offering, BofA clients simply need to add their debit cards to supported digital wallets (Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Microsoft Wallet). They can then hold their smartphones over the ATM’s card reader and enter their PIN to perform transactions such as withdrawing cash, transferring funds and checking their balances without inserting a debit card.

“As an industry, more and more customers are seeking to use their digital wallets to perform transactions. Bank of America identified the need for our customers to not only perform point-of-sale transactions in this fashion, but also ATM transactions,” says Anne Price, Bank of America ATM technology and global technology and operations. “Additionally, we felt it was important for our customers to continue to use their digital wallets as they have grown accustomed, ensuring we remain the top-of-wallet card for any of their transactions—including ATM transactions.”

Transactions are executed by ATMs that are equipped with near field communications (NFC), which is used in conjunction with a digital wallet’s tokenized number, as opposed to a physical card. When the smartphone is near the NFC reader, the digital wallet prompts the user to unlock it using a fingerprint or passcode.

It’s the second win for BofA in the category, the first of which came in 2013, and marks the first time in the category’s history a firm has won multiple times, which is a nod toward the Charlotte-based bank’s constant drive to take on exciting and creative technology projects.

The digital wallet then enables a token that is sent to the ATM in lieu of the client’s actual card number. The tokenized number is then translated into the user’s card number via several encryption modules performed by the ATM. The transaction then occurs as it would if the user had submitted his or her debit card.

Rollout of cardless ATMs in select markets began in February last year. In May, BofA began a broader rollout of cardless ATMs. By December over half the firm’s ATMs had cardless capabilities.