ABSTRACT
According to figures from Retail Banking Research, there were 600,000 ATMs installed worldwide at the beginning of 1997. More than U.S.$20 billion was invested simply in the purchase of these machines, a sum which is greater than the investment in all other self service channels put together. The largest number of machines, about 34% of the total, are installed in the Asia Pacific region, though Japan alone accounts for most of them. Europe had 31% of the installed base and North America had 26.5%. In Europe, there was one ATM for every 2400 people.
