Cash machine operator Link is planning to bolster its revenues by
offering technology consultancy and network provision services in
the UK and overseas.
Link is keen to use its national automated teller machine (ATM)
network, which is used by all the UK's main banks and building
societies, as a springboard into IT consultancy and services.
The company also plans to allow overseas ATM providers to plug into
its network through a telecoms link, routing transactions and
connecting separate cash machine networks within a country.
Link's plans to break into the consultancy market are part of a
wider trend in financial services. Both the London Stock Exchange
and London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange
have launched technology consultancy subsidiaries over the past few
years, marketing their trading platforms and experience in system
development.
"We are looking at the extent to which we can leverage our network
and see what else we can use these big pipes that we have for the
big banks," said Scott Housley, head of corporate relations at
Link.
"We are in reasonably advanced discussions in two or three places."
Earlier this year Computer Weekly revealed plans by Link to allow
mobile phone users to top-up their pre-pay accounts at ATMs and
last month it signed its first contract for the service with mobile
operator Vodafone.
However, separate plans by Link to develop a real-time
person-to-person payment system, using its ATM network, mobile
phones or PCs, were still at an exploratory stage, Housley added.
Banks also have other large-scale industry projects to tackle, such
as introducing chip-and-Pin technology across retail outlets, he
said.