Underserved people have traditionally relied on ATMs to access cash, but one company is expanding ATM services to include a variety of tools for them. Maya Labs recently developed its Smart ATM platform, which enables check cashing, money transfer, real-time bill payment, cell phone top-ups, micro-loans and bitcoin to people under. -banked.
The underserved market is a big group in the United States The Federal Reserve reported in 2019 that 22% of all American adults are unbanked and underbanked, and many have to rely on services such as payday loans, money orders and pawn shops to get by. The pandemic has only made it harder for this demographic group trying to access financial services such as bill paying, loans, money transfers and other services.
Underserved people have traditionally relied on ATMs to access cash, but one company is expanding ATM services to include a variety of tools for them. Maya Labs recently developed their Smart ATM platform, which enables check cashing, money transfer, real-time bill payment, cell phone top-ups, micro-loans, and bitcoins to people not banked and underbanked. The company is currently rolling out these ATMs in Hispanic grocery stores in the United States.
To learn more about these smart ATMs, ATM Marketplace spoke with Peter Kelly, CBO at Maya Labs.
Q. What are the main features of these smart ATMs?
A. Maya is a social initiative technology company that provides financial services infrastructure to underserved communities in the United States and internationally. The Maya SmartATM provides fast, convenient, and low-cost financial services with a self-service kiosk that allows people to cash checks, pay virtually any bill through CheckFreePay in the United States (for example, utilities), transfer money to 200,000 international withdrawals locations and purchase mobile airtime. The company takes care of all compliance and regulatory aspects of the service, providing retailers with a complete turnkey solution to increase foot traffic.
Q. Who is the primary target audience for this?
A. Maya Labs sells to a business-to-business audience including ATM deployers, BTM deployers, and primarily grocery and convenience stores serving unbanked and underbanked communities where 63 million people in the United States fall into this category. . Maya also offers a white label solution for check cashing, money transfer companies and BTM deployers.
Q. How does it improve the customer experience?
A. According to a 2019 Federal Reserve report, 22% of American adults (63 million) are either unbanked or underbanked. The 6% of unbanked Americans must resort to alternative financial products and services, such as payday loans, check cashing services, money orders, and pawnshop loans, to meet their financial needs. With the pandemic, the impact of climate change and rapid inflation, many Americans are facing difficult financial choices.
Maya enables businesses to offer a self-service solution for financial services to their customers and better access, in a more private environment. Customers generally have a shorter wait time and can facilitate more types of transactions in one place. The Maya SmartATM relieves a company’s employees of the responsibility of providing these financial services, while freeing up limitations on hours of operation, allowing customers to access their financial needs around the clock.
Q. How does this benefit retailers?
A. Maya enables deployers to differentiate their offering from their business partners. Retailers receive more foot traffic without having to spend expensive staff and allow additional revenue streams. These retailers also benefit from a reduction in shrinkage or a lack of money. More importantly, these retailers are now able to be a safe resource for financial support in their local communities.
