26 | The Commercial Record | June 2011

“ What are you waiting for? It’s not going to fix itself.” Over the years, haven’t we all heard some version of

that from someone? I first heard it

from my father when I was 8 or 9 years old, and the chain came off my bicycle. I thought of it again most re-cently while driving when I heard the sound of my brakes grinding.

Any of us with responsibilities knows things don’t fix themselves. Usually, if something needs to be fixed, unless we take immediate action, or put together some sort of plan to fix it, then it doesn’t get done.

Community bank executives often are responsible for many different areas, all competing for attention. It’s easy to pro-crastinate until there is a real deadline. Well, there is a real deadline approaching regarding your ATMs and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance. And each day, that deadline gets closer.

The actions to be taken can be answered by asking yourself this question: Are your ATMs ADA compliant?

I hope this isn’t the first time that your organization has pondered this question, but if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?

New ATM Accessibility StandardsOn Sept. 15, 2010, the Department of

Justice (DOJ) published its final rule on new accessibility standards under the ADA. The standards address the physical acces-

sibility and communication-related aspects of automated teller machines.

The standards took effect March 15, 2011; compliance is required by March 15, 2012.

That means that as of March 15, 2012, all newly-installed ATMs must comply with the new regulations, so that they can be easily used by individuals with visual im-pairments and mobility challenges.

The regulations also include a number of items that may require you to upgrade, or in many cases, replace some or all of the ATMs in your fleet. One of the key el-ements causing the need for upgrade or replacement is the requirement surround-ing speech output.

All ATMs must be speech-enabled and have some kind of voice guidance system in place. This is most commonly accom-plished using text-to-speech software.

Joeseph Maneen

Deadline Looming

ATMs & ADA Compliance: What Are You Waiting For?By Joseph p. Maneen Jr. | Special To The commercial record

June 2011 | The Commercial Record | 27

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ATMs & ADA Compliance: What Are You Waiting For?

There are some safe harbor elements of the DOJ ruling; however, they do not apply to the communications requirement. So, your ATM in the field must be able to “talk” to your customers. Additionally, if you are still running OS/2 as your operating sys-

tem, you are likely already aware that the ATM manufacturers have announced that they will not support these legacy systems with text-to-speech functionality. The cost to upgrade an older ATM running OS/2 is so prohibitive that it makes sense to re-place the entire unit.

This is often a painful realization for the financial institution. But the overall customer experience is dramatically en-hanced by using a Windows-based system. And regardless of cost, the new regulation requires a voice guidance system.

ATM Action PlanSo, what is a community bank to do? Iden-

tify what needs to be done to bring each ATM in your inventory up to compliance. Meet with your legal team, and develop a compliance plan based on your own unique scenario.

Then, consult with competent ATM pro-fessionals who will help you implement your plan in a manner that is best for you and your organization.

With all the complexities and the constant-ly changing regulatory environment, many financial institutions are simply outsourcing the management of their ATM fleets.

This doesn’t remove the burden of being in compliance, but it does remove the head-ache of how you get to compliance. However you decide to go about meeting ADA com-pliance, the March 15, 2012, deadline gets closer each day.

So, I ask again: What are you waiting for? n

Joseph P. Maneen Jr. is director of new business development, Northeast region, for Access to Money. Email: jmaneen@accesstomoney.com

New regulations require that all ATMs must be accessible to individuals with physical and visual impairments.

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