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The Government needs up to 600 million USD to launch the single network of ATMs run by the Central Bank

The government needs from $300 million to $600 million to create the single network of ATMs run by the country's Central Bank, Ms. Umut Shayahmetova, Halyk Bank Chairwoman of the Board, is quoted by KazTAG as saying.

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Umut Shayahmetova, Halyk Bank Chairwoman of the Board. By Yaroslav Radlovsky

"We have made an independent analysis, related calculations, and we have estimated that the Government's expenses can make up from $300 million to $600 million, including current assets in cash to keep the ATMs working (...) more than $100 million will be spent on creating the network alone", Ms. Shayahmetova said at a press conference May 29.

At the same time, according to her, second-tier banks have seen neither any documents nor any estimates on the National Bank's allegedly buying out the current ATMs.

"There is the question of the price raising (...) If to take the equipment of Halyk Bank alone [the Bank holds a 20% share in the ATMs service market], the amount is quite high (...) And so all these expenses will lie on the shoulders of the state again. What's the point? (...) There is a competitive market to sustain the ATMs system and bear all these costs", Ms. Shayahmetova noticed.

In addition, the banker believes the statement [earlier voiced by the country's Central Bank Governor Gregory Marchenko] that "today the service fees [when using ATMs] make up 5 percent and the poor pensioners suffer from it" was a false one and supported her words, citing some analytical findings by Halyk Bank.

"We are a retail bank, this market is very important for us, and we have made all the analysis. The rates of ATMs service fee have been cut threefold for the last three years because of the competition", Ms. Shayahmetova said.

She reminded that virtually everywhere in the world there are alternative competitive platforms in place: "These are consortia of private banks, or 2-3 networks of ATMs, which means there is competition everywhere".

Also according to U. Shayahmetova, "giving the network of ATMs and ATMs card business to the Central Bank the banks will have to lay off nearly 5 thousand people in the market".

The National Bank of Kazakhstan has started drafting a legislation to launch a single system of ATMs belonging to the National Bank [planned to replace all the current ATMs owned by the country's commercial banks], KazTag reported May 8, citing the National Bank's Press Service.

Earlier Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev tasked the National Bank [the country's Central Bank] to draft suggestions on launching a single system of ATMs.

According to Gregory Marchenko, the National Bank's Governor, the suggested single system of ATMs will enable to cut down the service fee twofold as compared to the current average rate.

"In almost all shopping malls there are 10 ATMs on average. Some run out of cash, some are broken. People have to withdraw money using ATMs owned by other banks. The idea is to buy out all the ATMs from commercial banks. From that on ATMs will be handling cards issued by all banks", he said earlier.

Source: tengrinews.kz

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