As it aims to move away from reliance on loan and advances for income, First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) has increased its ATM network from 92 to 123 machines in the past six months.Speaking at the announcement of the bank's results for the six-month period ended December 2011 in Gaborone on Friday, CEO Lorato Boakgomo-Ntakhwana said that the ATM division has been transformed from a supporting service into a proper business operation within the organisation.
"We have appointed a fulltime head of ATMs and the division has performed very well," she said. "Our ATM transactions volumes has risen and the uptime has also increased from 92 percent to 97 percent and this, along with other new products, has significantly contributed to our non-interest income." The rise in the number of ATMs is not only expected to reduce the amount of time that customers spend queuing up in branches but also provide wider banking service access across the country.
