ETrade to buy largest independent network of ATMs

Computerworld - In a bid to extend its foray into online banking, ETrade Group Inc. announced that it will buy the nation's largest independent network of centrally managed automated teller machines — Portland, Ore.-based Card Capture Services Inc., which runs 8,500 machines.
The deal would make ETrade the third-largest operator of ATMs in the U.S. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, though a definitive agreement has been reached, ETrade said in a press release on Monday. Card Capture Services reported revenues of more than $72 million last year.
ETrade, which acquired Internet bank Telebank in January, said the Card Capture acquisition will overcome one of the last barriers to widespread adoption of Internet banking.
ETrade said it will use the ATMs to create a network of financial services kiosks that would offer customers access to all of ETrade's financial products, including online investing and cash withdrawals.
The ATMs would carry the ETrade brand name. They currently generate over 3.1 million transactions per month and are located in places such as hotels, shopping malls, grocery stores, gas stations and entertainment complexes.
"By launching an ETrade-branded ATM network, we are again setting a new standard for the industry," said Mitchell H. Caplan, chief banking officer at Menlo Park, Calif.-based ETrade.
The deal follows a similar acquisition last month in which American Express Co. bought more than 4,000 ATMs from Electronic Data Systems Corp. in Plano, Tex., bringing its total to 8,672.