Largest Romanian lender sees 3.8 mln transactions via self-service devices

BCR, Romania’s largest bank by assets, has registered more than 3.8 million transactions made by clients through the self-service system, for a total of about EUR 260 million. The bank launched the system in November 2012, when it installed its first automated payment terminals (APT). Currently the bank has 450 such devices, after it recently installed 50 more. The total investment in the equipment was EUR 2.3 million, the bank announced. The self-service system allows BCR’s individual clients to make banking operations by themselves, which include paying their bills, charging their bank accounts or paying their installments for credit cards. Transactions can be made only in local currency (RON) and the bank charges no fee. “One of the main advantages of this system is the speed of the transactions, as the duration of an operation is reduced from 4 minutes to less than 40 seconds,” said Elena Ionescu Turda, head of the ATM & Self Service department in BCR. The bank calculated that its clients who used this system saved a total of 84,000 hours in the first five months of this year alone. Except the 450 APTs, BCR has some 685 Cash In devices, 72 multifunctional machines and 163 automated exchange devices installed. The bank also has almost 2,100 ATMs all over the country. BCR is the largest bank in Romania, with more than EUR 15 billion in assets. It is controlled by Austrian group Erste. Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com