Wells Fargo Enables Mobile NFC Access for ATMs

Wells Fargo has enabled NFC access to 5,000 of its ATMs across the US. The feature can be used with Wells Fargo debit cards loaded into the mobile wallets of customers’ NFC-equipped smartphones.

Wells Fargo first introduced the concept of smartphone-based ATM access earlier this year when it launched a system based on one time access codes issued through the Wells Fargo mobile app. The feature proved popular, with the company now asserting that it has seen almost three million such ATM transactions since it was launched in March.

NFC access could prove even more popular, given its ease of use. Customers need only to sign into their mobile wallets, hold the smartphone near the NFC-equipped ATM, and enter their PIN.

In a statement announcing the feature, Wells Fargo Head of Virtual Channels Jim Smith explained that it’s part of an effort to accommodate changing consumer habits as more and more customers engage in mobile banking and payments, citing a Forrester prediction that mobile payments volumes in the US will triple by 2021. It’s a trend that “makes it ever important for Wells Fargo to provide our more than 20 million mobile banking and mobile wallet customers with a seamless mobile authentication and access experience at our ATMs, online, and in our branches,” he said.

Wells Fargo says it plans to upgrade the rest of its network of 13,000 ATMs with NFC functionality by 2019, extending mobile NFC access to customers across the entire country.