Argentine bank Banco Itau Buen Ayre plans to add more than 100 ATMs to its network of 325 machines during the next 12-18 months

Argentine bank Banco Itau Buen Ayre plans to add more than 100 ATMs to its network of 325 machines during the next 12-18 months, according to a report in BNamericas. Claudio Ercolessi, the bank's chief operating officer told BNamericas that the new ATMs will be installed in off-premise locations such as shopping centers and gas stations. He ruled out further ATM deployments at branches, because each branch already has between two and four machines. Ercolessi called the ATM the linchpin of Itau Buen Ayre's strategy to offer more transaction-based services to customers. According to BNamericas, Argentina's economic crisis has forced banks to shift from their reliance on traditional accounts with interest-based revenues to transactional services that will generate revenues from fees and commissions. Currently 50 percent of the Itau Buen Ayre's transactions are made electronically, with ATMs representing 70 percent of the bank's electronic transactions, Ercolessi said. Many of Itau Buen Ayre's ATMs are equipped to offer advanced functionality such as ticket sales; Ercolessi said the bank plans to introduce such services in the future.