In the near future, banking consumers can expect to withdraw cash in a faster, more convenient and more secure manner with the introduction of Diebold Inc’s first-of-its-kind auto teller machine (ATM).

Diebold field marketing director Philip Bedford says the company has invented a conceptual headless, pin-less and card-less ATM that will allow you to complete a cash withdrawal in less than 10 seconds. The machine will also help address the problem of global ATM skimming fraud.

Showcasing the conceptual ATM named “Irving” at the 2016 Retail Banking Forum, Bedford says the machine terminal reads and conducts the transactions through wireless connectivity with a consumer’s smartphone. The removal of card reader from the terminal eliminates the possibility of skimming and other card-related fraud.

“Irving allows consumers to perform transactions securely using their smartphone through banking applications, instead of entering a personal identification number (PIN) on a traditional PIN pad. This helps reduce complexity, slash the potential for card fraud and increase efficiencies for financial institutions.

“The headless feature of Irving eliminates the need for a physical screen, card reader or PIN pad, thus reducing the opportunity for fraudsters to intercept or monitor transactions,” says Bedford.

The conceptual ATM authenticates the user via Near Field Communication, Quick Response (QR) Code or biometrics such as iris authentication, which provides an extra layer of protection for users.

“Users can customise authentication methods with the banks. For example, the user can customise to use only one of the authentication methods when withdrawing a small amount of money to use all three methods when the withdrawal amount is higher,” says Bedford.

“In the case of a stolen phone, the other party will have to log in to the banking application, which is password-protected, and pass the authentications to make a withdrawal. Users can notify the bank to wipe out the phone’s data in this case.”

The company is running a pilot project with Citibank in the US.

Kevin Chin, country manager for Diebold-Corp Systems Sdn Bhd, says the company is also introducing an ATM security solution — ActivEdge — which makes ATM skimming fraud impossible.

“What ActivEdge does is preventing skimming by manipulating the way the card enters the card reader. A typical card reader accepts the card on the short edge, so the skimmer would put a skimming device before the card reader’s head. The device then reads the card before the ATM’s card reader does as the card is vertically slotted in. This is how skimmers skim the valuable personal details of the cardholder,” he explains.

“Instead, the ActivEdge card reader accepts the card on the long edge. Once the card goes in, the reader’s head will move horizontally to read the card. Hence, there is no way for the skimmer to put any skimming devices in the ActivEdge solution to steal information.”

To employ the ActivEdge solution, banks do not have to replace the entire ATM, but only replace the card reader. The company is currently demonstrating the anti-skimming solution to local banks.