Ukash: Empowering Consumers to Use ATMs – Without a Card

Cash withdrawals are on the up.

According to RBR data released at the end of 2013, global cash withdrawal volumes from ATMs are set to increase 65% over the coming years. While in the UK alone, if Sainsbury’s Bank estimates are correct, £11.4 billion was withdrawn from UK ATMs in December, equating to £367 million per day, and 164 million withdrawals during the month – up £3m on December 2012. Such growth is visible in many geographies, across developed and emerging markets alike; which is an exciting prospect for the ATM industry, and rather debunks many of the assumptions around our inevitable move towards a “cashless society.”

Indeed, the industry may well see an acceleration of withdrawals, as the emergence of “Cardless services” at ATMs start to breakthrough into the mainstream.

Ukash is quick to launch Cardless ATM service.

Here at Ukash, we were quick to see and understand the potential of “Cardless ATM” services for our online savvy, yet largely cash-based, consumer community. Our job in our early years was simply to enable cash consumers to purchase online without the need for traditional banking or credit card services. Having established a strong network of places to get Ukash (465,000 locations) and spend Ukash (6,000 websites), we are now focusing on extending the customer experience beyond the initial purchase transaction.

Giving consumers a way to convert Ukash back into cash was, we believe, the inevitable next step. In 2013 we launched our pilot service in the UK in partnership with Bank Machine (Cardtronics), and have seen great interest involving a number of use cases. Our intention is to identify more partner networks around the world to plug in to our ever-growing “eco-system.” I believe that removing the need for a card at ATMs could be the final key to extending financial services to the billions of people without a bank account or credit card.

Increased focus on risk controls needed.

However, without a card to validate, there is an additional burden to ensure against malicious or criminal use, and that any suspicious activity can be identified and reported in the proper ways. This is where Ukash plans to “lead the world” with our extensive ID&V, anti-fraud and risk management toolkit in place. This industry-leading approach gives us up to 10,000 items of individual data associated with a transaction, including ID, velocity, device fingerprinting, geo-location, plausibility, history, social media interaction etc. This gives us the capability to launch services in a secure way from the start - whereas some other “Cardless service” providers have had to temporarily or permanently close-down services due poor risk controls.

Meanwhile bank branches are closing.

What has driven our approach is the philosophy that whether a consumer has a debit/credit card or not, shouldn’t really matter. If they want to access their cash, then they should be able to do so. As well as the popular “Cardless ATM” service, we also offer an “over the counter” experience at 26,000 PayPoint stores across the UK. To put this into context (according to figures from the Campaign for Community Banking Services), there are now only 9,500 bank branches still open in England and Wales. While in 1972, there were 15,000.

Different use cases.

Ukash sees many different use cases for cardless cash withdrawals; whether it’s for P2P payments, corporate disbursements, refunds, prizes, gambling account payouts or emergency cash. We also see cardless ATM as an enabler for a cost effective person-to-person money transfer service, and we have exciting plans to develop this further in the coming months.

But it’s not just about cash withdrawals. Another way we see Ukash working with partners is to allow customers to buy Ukash vouchers at ATMs (this time with a card) – similar to how people can top-up their prepaid mobile today. In fact, our customers in Spain have been doing this for some years now.

David Hunter

Chief Executive

David Hunter, appointed Chief Executive of Ukash in January 2011, has led significant market growth for the global e-money network and internationally recognised e-commerce cash payment method. Achieving a remarkable 65% increase in year-on-year sales, Ukash now processes in excess of £500m eMoney transactions throughout the world. Under David Hunter’s leadership, Ukash has also secured a number of key partnerships to extend the reach of e-money to an ever-widening consumer audience.

A champion of Prepaid Commerce, and in particular cash-based electronic money, David Hunter’s background in the online cash payment arena has been instrumental in the recent success of Ukash. His passion for breaking down the barriers for people to trade and buy online has also been fundamental in driving the strategic direction of the business.

In particular, David is keen to see Ukash increase its acceptance in economies that are cash-driven, where there isn’t a strong banking infrastructure or where there is a large community that does not have access to traditional banking and credit facilities, such as migrant communities. Ukash provides a solution for these consumers, enabling them to transact online and to be socially included, giving them access to the same benefits of online shopping as those with credit and debit cards enjoy.

This vision also crucially means Ukash opens new revenue streams for online businesses, as well as drives additional footfall and revenues for Ukash retailers.

Prior to joining Ukash, David Hunter has led three e-money businesses (BT Accurate, ClickandBuy Europe, and paysafecard UK) and has a track record of developing and leading new ventures into profitable growth.

David’s career began in telecommunications at BT, and his transition to payment systems began almost by accident when BT BuyNet, the organisation’s e-payment gateway, and BT ClickandBuy were placed under his control. In 2006, ClickandBuy moved out of BT and David moved with it, leading its transformation from a simple micro-payments service to a full Electronic Money Institution (EMI).

In 2008, David repeated the feat for paysafecard, making him the first CEO to successfully lead two businesses through the complex regulatory processes of ELMI application with the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA).

With David at the helm, Ukash has secured the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category for three consecutive years – 2011, 2012 and 2013. The award recognises Ukash’s substantial growth in overseas earnings and outstanding levels of commercial success.

Ukash has also been included in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 in 2011, 2012 and 2013 which identifies and ranks the most successful private companies. And at the end of 2013, Ukash was included in the inaugural publication of the London Stock Exchange Group’s ‘1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ list, which sets out to showcase companies that will help fuel the long-term growth of the UK economy. To be selected for the list, companies had to demonstrate not only a positive growth in revenue over the last four years, but an increase in employee numbers, workspace, contract wins or patent filings. Ukash has achieved growth in all of these categories, through its innovative focus on empowering cash consumers in the online world.

In addition, David was recognised as Number Two in the 2013 Payment Power Top 10.

David Hunter lives in southwest London with his wife and three children. He supports two charities: British Red Cross and CLIC Sargent. David enjoys playing golf, football, skiing and cycling and relaxing with a Sudoku crossword in his free time.