Be prepared for even longer lines the next time you go to the ATM.

So, I recently saw this article in the Gleaner that said one out of every ten NCB ATMs are out of commission.

But why should you care? Especially if you don’t have an NCB account.

Well, NCB has the largest network of banking machines on the island and they’re all connected to the Multilink network. Multilink allows debit card holders from one financial institution to make withdrawals from another company’s ATM.

So, if you have a JN debit card, you can make withdrawals from NCB’s ATM because they’re both a part of the Multilink network. 

According to JETS, which is the agency that runs Multilink, NCB started the year with about 326 machines out of the 900 total ATMs on the network.

By March, that number dropped to 300 and by May it was down to 290. 

See, NCB and other financial institutions have been hit really hard by ATM robberies and vandalism over the past few months.

So much so that the bank decommissioned 25 machines across the island due to the high risk of repeat damage or robbery. NCB said that this is only temporary.  They said they’re seeking to replace some of those machines either by reinforcing the security at some of the locations or, if that’s not possible, by changing to a more secure site. 

Now you probably did the maths, and you’re saying – if they started the year at 326 machines and are at 290 now, that’s only 36 machines down. 

But 36 is a lot, especially when you consider that most people are doing their transactions digitally now. According to NCB, ABMs accounted for 52% of its digital transactions.

And ABMs aren’t only for withdrawing cash.  You can make deposits, and many can be used to cash in and out of your Lynk digital wallet.

And as I said earlier, NCB is a part of the Multilink network. So customers that have debit cards from institutions with fewer ATMs, typically rely on the NCB ones to do transactions. 

But NCB said they have a plan to replace and upgrade their fleet of machines plus add some new ones, especially now that Jamaica has officially launched the new polymer bank notes.

NCB said its ABM network should be back to 325 machines by the end of the year.