Executives from Wincor Nixdorf Inc. (USA) hosted a bankers' forum last month, highlighting emerging trends in a challenging U.S. economic environment.
 
Among the day's presenters was former Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Donald Powell, who said the banking industry is facing its second-worst crisis in U.S. banking history.
Powell predicts 100 U.S. banks will fail this year, and more government control and regulation are inevitable.
 
"Our economy is on its head, and the banking industry is on its head," he said. "That's never happened before in our economy."
 
What makes this crisis different? Powell asks. The entire world has been affected, he says.
 
"More regulation is coming," he said. "And every business that touches banking is going to be pooled together and regulated. You've got to treat the regulator as a partner, by telling them everything."
 
Consumer protection will likely top the regulatory list, Powell says, and that ties in with customer loyalty and experience.
 
For Wells Fargo, improving loyalty and experience via the ATM has been a priority for the last several years. Shelly Chandler, now part of the Wells team, since Wells' acquisition of Wachovia, says Wells focuses on ATM service and security excellence to enhance the customer experience.
 
"Wells is renowned for connecting with customers to find out what they want," Chandler said. "This is how we moved toward deposit automation to begin with. Customers said they wanted it. We have to think about the user and the experience that user has in the branch or at the self-service channel. Think about what retailers have done to improve customer satisfaction, such as improved wait-times in the checkout line."
 
The top three customer requests:

• Envelope-free deposits
• More advanced functionality
• More "convenient" ATM locations

Those requests bode well for the future of cash, says Nicole Sturgill, an ATM industry consultant for Boston-based TowerGroup. As the circulation of cash increases, because of the bailouts and the need to print more U.S. currency to support them, cash use is on the rise.
 
Sturgill says cash circulation in the United States has had an 8 percent compound annual growth rate since 1970. From September 2008 to December 2008, the amount of U.S. currency in circulation went from $782 billion to $812 billion. 
 
"These factors are important for the ATM industry," Sturgill said. "In addition to increased cash use, customers are getting used to self-service."