The Bank wanted to get a clearer picture about the drivers shaping customers’ ATM usage habits. They looked for answers to shed light on the real potential ATMs hold and the factors that determine patterns of usage and traffic.
The brief
The bank wanted to better understand ATM usage patterns — both the real potential of individual machines and the customer traffic and usage behaviours behind the numbers. The primary goal was to identify ATMs worth relocating: machines where a move to a higher-potential site would recover the full cost of relocation within a single year.
Questions we answered
Regarding the catchment area and performance of each ATM:
- Why do some central ATMs perform well while others in similar locations perform badly?
- Why do some peripheral ATMs outperform certain central ones?
- What is the catchment area of each ATM, and where do users actually come from?
- What defines the neighbourhood characteristics that affect transaction volumes?
Regarding customer movement and ATM usage behaviour:
- How far are customers willing to travel to use their own bank’s ATM?
- What is the relationship between customer loyalty and ATM distance?
- What proportion of customers fall outside any ATM’s catchment area, and which competitor networks are they using instead?
- Is the transaction volume captured by competitor networks large enough to justify placing a new ATM in those areas?
Methodology
Every relocation proposal was evaluated against two criteria: the relocation must recover its full cost within one year through increased transaction revenue; and the new location must share the same catchment area as the old one, minimising customer loss.
We combined data on demographic composition, footfall patterns, competitor locations, and customer loyalty behaviour to rank every potential relocation site.
Results
For 80% of the analysed ATMs, we were able to offer at least five alternative locations within the existing catchment area where — based on estimated potential — the expected revenue increase would yield the cost of relocation within one year.
Assuming an average ATM relocation cost of HUF 1–1.5 million, this represents an annual revenue uplift of at least HUF 1–1.5 million per machine.
All proposed locations were identified with actionable contract opportunities: institutions, offices, retail premises, public buildings, and workplaces. Results were delivered as an interactive, map-based dashboard, which continues to serve as an ongoing tool for analysing and planning the bank’s ATM network.