Tap-and-Go For Retail ATMs: Is Now the Right Time to Invest?
NAC 2025: Contactless payments have become widely available at retail, driven by improved user convenience, but acceptance at ATMs is often “hit and miss,” depending on the location.
Are ATM operators taking full advantage of the “tap and go” opportunity? The question was addressed at a panel during the recent NAC conference and expo at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The session was titled, “NFC for retail ATMs: Is it time to begin rolling out tap & go?”
The rising use of NFC (near field communication) enabled credit cards by consumers was one of the factors driving the growth of contactless payments, according to a 2025 research report by Precedence Research. The contactless payment market is expected to expand at a 16% combined annual growth rate from 2024 to 2034. Other factors contributing to this growth include speed and convenience, attractive rewards and incentives, improved customer experience, and safety concerns.
From the ATM operator’s perspective, however, NFC integration requires an investment in the necessary hardware and software.
To date, independent ATM deployers (IADs) are recognizing the need to embrace NFC and are responding in kind, according to the panelists.
“As more and more processors have certified these (NFC integration) kits, the growth has been pretty steady,” said panelist Scott Weaver, vice president of sales for retail ATMs at Genmega, an ATM manufacturer. “It’s been sort of shocking to see how many of these (NFC integration) kits are going out the door now.”
Panelist Sal Salpietro, president of ATM Universal Processors LLC, an ATM independent sales organization, said independent ATM operators need to make sure they have the necessary control board before purchasing an NFC kit from a manufacturer.
“Before they buy it, they need to understand that they need the newer board,” Salpietro said.
Weaver recognized that the costs of these investments are concerning to ATM operators, especially with the recent government tariffs. He noted, however, that it’s oftentimes the location owners, the ATM operators’ customers, who are making the requests for tap-and-go.
As the volume of NFC readers rises over time, Weaver said, ATM manufacturers may adjust the prices.
Banks that issue credit cards have supported tap-and-go on their own ATMs, the panelists noted, but not necessarily on the general access ATMs that independent ATM operators provide.
In cases where a customer uses their credit card at a non-bank ATM, the machine may decline their transaction.
Bruce Renard, NAC executive director, noted this might be an anti-competitive action by the banks.
“It sounds to me like we need to look into some kind of anti-competitive action for the way the banks are setting up their situation,” he said. “They’re allowing the tap-and-go to work on the bank machine and not on our machines.”
Weaver of Genmega noted that he does not assume that the banks are intentionally discriminating against non-bank ATMs.
“I don’t know how much of it is nefarious versus banks just not understanding some of the steps that they have to take with various processors with the networks to enable things,” he said. “So I think a lot of this is just education with the whole community about getting this enabled.”
Renard said NAC can help educate financial institutions about the need to support non-bank ATMs.
“That’s fantastic feedback because that is also something NAC can absolutely dive into and try to help facilitate the right parties getting together,” Renard said.
Besides supporting their own ATMs, financial institutions have also aggressively supported tap-and-go for retail POS. Supporting NFC at retail POS but not non-bank ATMs causes further confusion for ATM customers. A customer might be able to use tap-and-go at a store but not at a nearby ATM.
Panelist Chuck Schwab, vice president of product strategy at PAI Powered by Brinks, which provides ATM management services, said ATM operators may need to be patient with the banks.
When retailers first introduced tap-and-go several years ago, it took time before it became widely available.
“The same experience happened,” said Schwab. “Most of the stores I went to did not have an NFC reader.” It took time for a lot of retailers to offer tap-and-go.
Tap-and-go capabilities still varies among retail locations, he said, and whether or not the capability is available at a particular location can depend on the bank issuing the credit card.
“The level of sophistication (among banks) is going to vary widely,” he said. “A lot of that is dependent on the bank or the credit union. The issuer of the card must understand the dynamics of what they need to do.”
“Adoption will continue,” Genmega’s Weaver said, when asked if ATM operators should invest in NFC rather than waiting for more of the card issuers to support tap-and-go. “The issuers will continue to turn this on as customers say, ‘I want to be able to use this.’”
Another reason operators should invest in tap-and-go is to reduce ATM skimming, Weaver said.
In addition, Schwab said NFC reduces transaction friction for the customer.
He also noted that tap-and-go at ATMs enables consumers to retain cash usage.
“I think what we’re doing is saying we’re going to try and retain users of cash because if you don’t have it they’re just going to walk up to the counter and use their phone and tap; they know that works,” Schwab said.
“Generally speaking, where it is deployed and enabled, we see a lot of the same positive activity,” Schwab said.
Artcle by the Team at ATMBiz
Highlights of exhibitors on the NAC 2025 trade show floor.
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