Barclays to unveil contactless cash withdrawals

Machines will allow the user to tap their card on a reader, or even use their smartphone, to make a withdrawal

While contactless payment terminals have become ubiquitous in retail outlets, Barclays is set to trial contactless ATMs in a number of its branches.

The bank will unveil 100 contactless machines at 25 branches across “the north”, which will allow customers to withdraw up to £100 without putting their card into the machine, or by using their smartphone instead. The exact locations of the machines have not yet been released, but the bank said they would be rolled out to 180 branches across the UK if the project was a success.

ATM users will simply tap their contactless card against the machine’s reader before inputting their pin as normal. Barclays mobile app customers who have one of the latest Android mobile phones with NFC (near-field communication) won’t even need their card – once they open the app and select cash withdrawal they simply tap the phone on the card reader, input their card’s pin either on the ATM or the phone handset, and out pops the money.

Customers with iPhones won’t be able to use the scheme because Apple limits the use of its contactless technology to its own Apple Pay system.

Barclays suggested the facility was more secure than inserting a bank card, as it avoided the risk of having the card’s details hijacked by a skimming machine. The user also cannot walk off and leave their card in the slot.

Those taking out sums greater than £100 will still have to put their card in the machine.

Barclays is not the first bank to allow customers to make cardless withdrawals. Royal Bank of Scotland introduced its Get Cash facility four years ago, designed to help customers in an emergency. It allowed up to £130 to be taken out of an ATM by messaging the user a code via their smartphone which was to be typed into the terminal. However, this service was suspended in 2012 after it was targeted by fraudsters.

Security experts have warned that users of the mobile app are probably better off inputting the card’s pin number on the ATM rather than mobile handset. “There could be malware on your phone which is recording the pin as it’s typed in – that would be a new risk,” said Steven Murdoch of University College London. “The malware might also be able to copy your credentials from one phone to another, allowing the other handset to make a withdrawal.”

Last year, more than 90,000 UK bank accounts were defrauded through the use of counterfeit cards, and a further 152,727 because of lost or stolen cards, according to Financial Fraud Action UK.

Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of Barclays UK, said: “Our customers now expect to be able to use their smartphone to make their everyday purchases. We want taking out cash to be just as easy. With Contactless Cash, customers can quickly and securely take out money with just a tap of their smartphone – a first for the UK.”