A new generation of ATMs are delivering banking services far more sophisticated than dispensing cash. These TouchTellers speak to you, show video in full color and stereo sound, help with personal finance decisions like retirement, insurance, and college savings, print loan applications, show information from the World Wide Web -- and bring you face-to-face with a live bank teller on the screen.

The new TouchTeller system from North Communications is already working for ground-breaking banking customers -- including the University Federal Credit Union in Texas, and soon for Citizens Bank of North Carolina. North Communications not only makes the TouchTeller software; it builds, installs and services the systems, provides network operations and integration to bank mainframe systems and the World Wide Web, providing, a complete, end-to-end 'People's Internet' solution. The consolidation of many of the traditional services of a bank into 6 sq.ft. gives rise to the company's TouchTeller slogan, "Honey, I Shrunk the Bank!"

Literally dozens of banks, credit unions and savings-and-loans are lined up to see TouchTeller. They need a way to offer personalized services at their ATMs, to generate new business -- and TouchTeller does so at one-third the cost of a traditional cash-dispensing ATM's said Ralph Metz, Vice President of Sales for North Communications. The TouchTeller system will be seen at the upcoming Retail Delivery '96 tradeshow in Dallas from December 2 through 6.

"The immediacy of videoconferencing is what first sold us on TouchTeller," said Brenda Barnard, Vice President of Marketing at University Federal Credit Union in Austin, Texas.

"Customers start with a standard, pre-recorded professional video host on the screen to guide them through routine introductions and transactions. Then, when the customer needs it -- pop -- up comes a live, specially-trained person from our video telemarketing center. The customer and the video teller can clearly see and hear each other through special cameras and microphones, over virtually any distance. It's a tremendous improvement over the plain, strictly functional interface on a standard ATM, and allows us to sell, persuade, answer questions, provide literature -- virtually everything that can be done by actually coming into one of our branches."

Several recent industry studies validate the TouchTeller story, and the case for multimedia ATMs. INPUT of Mountain View, CA projects that by the year 2001 over 90% of all contacts with banks will be made electronically, including over the Internet. Their recent report says that multi-purpose kiosks and advanced ATMs located in supermarkets and shopping malls will help drive this trend, and that by 2001 the use of paper checks will drop by 60%, while the use of the Internet for banking services will multiply 40 times. Focusing that projection further is London's Ovum research group, which says that electronic money stored on smartcards will make the cash-dispensing ATM obsolete by 2006; people will use phones and PCs to transfer their basic e-cash, and interactive multimedia information booths will offer more advanced banking services. In economic terms, according to Communications Week, the growth in standard ATMs will flatten to 5% per year through 2000, while the growth in multifunction transaction terminals, which includes kiosks, will rise to 27% per year, bringing the value of the hardware market to $600 million per year, up from this year's $180 million.

TouchTellers will start to supplement existing networks of cash machines. They will be used by customers that want to apply for an auto loan, examine their savings and investment plans and consider new opportunities, and talk face-to-face with a customer service representative without coming into the bank and perhaps standing in line. They will be placed next to standard ATMs, which will continue to provide cash and basic bank transactions.

There's a very good reason for this division of labor: cost. A TouchTeller costs between $15,000 and $18,000; a standard ATM costs between $35,000 and $60,000. And using a standard ATM for customer service would be both uneconomical and inconvenient for customers.

"As more and more financial institutions put important information onto the World Wide Web and look to benefit from new technologies like electronic money, they need a way to deliver these capabilities to their customers," said Paul Kennedy, President of North Communications. "Less than 5% of retail customers can actually connect to the Web from the home or office today, and their connection is often slow and raises security concerns. TouchTeller has the potential to be the way the majority of bank customers connect with the Web, and with their bank."

Rick Rommel, Vice President of Marketing, explains further: "When connected to the Internet, a TouchTeller is ultra-secure compared to a home or office PC. There are several reasons for this: the computer keyboard and mouse are not accessible, since they're sealed inside the security-alarmed kiosk and replaced by a touchscreen; the communications equipment and wiring are also completely enclosed; and the data circuits are not connected directly to the Web at all. They go through a proprietary network and through various servers and firewalls before a connection to the public Web is made, which provides an inherently more secure environment, and perfect focus and control for the bank."

TouchTeller is part of a new generation of public access products being released by North Communications, which has been providing multimedia touchscreen kiosks to business and industry for 11 years. It operates under North's NetGain, a touchscreen browser that works in tandem with Microsoft's Internet Explorer. And TouchTeller is delivered in the Loyola Kiosk, the tough, cost-effective professional enclosure recently introduced by North Communications.

North Communications has deployed highly successful touchscreen networks in California, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Utah, Washington, Australia, Singapore, Canada, and for the Social Security Administration. The company was recently awarded a contract by the United States Postal Service. An affiliate of Metromedia Company, controlled by John Kluge, is the majority shareholder of North Communications, Inc. The North Communications site on the Web provides more detail, at http://www.infonorth.com; Loyola kiosk information is available at http://www.kioskstore.com.