You don't have to insert your card at some FNB ATMs any more – here's how it works

FNB's new tap and pin NFC-enabled ATMs can be found in 100 retail stores and spaza shops around the country. Bombi Mavundza/Business Insider

• First National Bank is rolling out ATMs that don't require you to insert your card.
• Instead you tap, much like when paying with a tap-and-go credit card transactions – but with a pin.
• FNB hopes to install the devices in 50% of all its ATMs by the end of 2019.
• We tried out out for ourselves.

First National Bank (FNB) has launched a new "tap and pin" feature on portable ATMs at retail stores and spaza shops across the country, and says the system will be available on half its ATMs by the end of next year.

The new system uses near-field communication (NFC) to detect cards, allowing customers to withdraw money and perform other transactions without ever inserting a card into the machines.

A total of 100 such ATMs have already been placed in stores across the country.

By the end of 2019 FNB hopes to have tap-and-pin available at 50% of its ATMs, Wesley Pretorius, FNB's head of self-service delivery, tells Business Insider South Africa.

"The whole bank's strategy is to make banking better, smarter and more convenient," he says. Customers not putting their cards into a machine makes it harder to lose them, or have them stolen in a scam. 

The system allows allows customers to withdraw money in 20 seconds flat, as we discovered when we tested it.

Here's how it works.

Hold your contactless FNB card over the NFC device, and wait for the ATM to acknowledge it.

Patiently wait for all the lights above the NFC device to turn on as you tap. Bombi Mavundza/Business Insider

You are prompted to enter your pin, and can transact as usual, withdrawing cash in our case

Uhm, my money please. As easy as that. Bombi Mavundza/Business Insider

The system works with any contactless FNB card.

Unlike some tap-and-go credit card transactions at stores, any transaction, even a R50 withdrawal, requires a pin, so customers can rest assured of their security, says Pretorius

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