Dan Pražák Not so long ago I pointed out in an article that while Apple Pay is great, it still lacks one thing to be perfect. The aforementioned shortcoming is the considerably limited possibility of ATM withdrawals via iPhone or Apple Watch. While most ATMs do not even have the technology required for contactless withdrawals, others that do offer this option do not support Apple Pay at all. Until recently, this was also the case with Komerční banka, which has now started to support withdrawals from ATMs through the payment service from Apple.
Already in July, we asked the press department of Komerční banka why its contactless ATMs do not support withdrawals via Apple Pay. We received a reply that the implementation of the service is heading towards the final stage, and that the bank plans to deploy the option of withdrawal via Apple Pay during August. According to our findings, this really happened at the end of last week, and clients of Komerční banka - and of course not only them - can leave their card at home and withdraw cash just by holding their iPhone or Apple Watch.
Contactless withdrawals with Apple Pay work exactly the same as payments at merchants. All you have to do is activate the card display on your iPhone or Apple Watch (press the side button or the home button twice), perform verification (for iPhones) and place the device near the designated place on the ATM (usually to the left of the numeric keypad). For iPhones with Touch ID, all you have to do is place your finger on the fingerprint reader and bring the phone to the marked place. Subsequently, the ATM prompts you to select a language and then to enter your PIN code.
In the future, only contactless withdrawals
It currently supports contactless withdrawals at over 1900 ATMs in the Czech Republic, which is about a third of the domestic ATM network. In addition, the situation is constantly improving - a year ago only a few hundred contactless ATMs were operating in the Czech Republic. In addition, banks are interested in deploying the technology on an ever wider scale, also due to its higher security, where after using a sensor instead of inserting a card, the risk of copying identification data on the magnetic strip is reduced. Along with this, the cards wear out less, and thus banks save not only funds, but also materials.
Contactless withdrawals are already supported by most banks that operate ATMs. These include ČSOB, Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka, Moneta, Raiffeisenbank, Fio banka and Air Bank. Only UniCredit Bank and Sberbank remain, which nevertheless plan to offer them soon.
