PayPal Offers Details on FIS-PAI Contactless ATM Collaboration

PayPal has offered a few new details on the recent partnership between financial services technology specialist FIS and ATM provider Payment Alliance International (PAI).

The partnership was first announced last month, and its aim is to enable contactless ATM access. That’s done through FIS Cardless Cash, a system designed to let customers use their mobile devices, rather than a bank card, to access an ATM.

PayPal has now announced that FIS’s system uses technology from FinTech developer Paydiant, a company that was acquired by PayPal in the spring of 2015. In a blog post on its website, PayPal’s Chris Gardner commented, “Over the past year, we have realized the potential of providing cardless cash access,” adding later, “We’re thrilled to now be delivering this patented Cardless Cash approach to PAI’s existing network of 70,000 ATMs – without upgrading the ATM machine hardware.”

Gardner also explained that the system will be available via both iOS and Android devices. While FIS Cardless Cash originally included an authentication feature leveraging the Touch ID fingerprint scanning system on newer iPhone models, an FIS video illustrating the Cardless Cash process depicts an authentication system involving a PIN and a QR code displayed on an ATM, which the user scans using her mobile device’s camera.