Walgreens selects ATM services provider for U.S.

Nearly all Walgreens stores in the U.S., Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia will now be served by the same ATM network.

The drugstore giant is extending and expanding a long-term agreement with enterprise technology vendor NCR. This renewed partnership will make NCR the provider of ATM services across the vast majority of U.S. Walgreens stores.

The expanded sites will join the many Walgreens locations already served by the NCR Allpoint ATM network. The Allpoint network offers surcharge-free cash access to over 1,200 issuers, including two of the five largest U.S. banks by deposit, representing more than 70 million cardholders.

In addition, under this agreement, Walgreens will gain more than 1,300 Allpoint+ model cash-accepting ATMs, enabling cash deposit transactions alongside traditional cash withdrawal transactions. The retailer hopes to bring a traditional bank branch function into its store environment as a result.

At many of the ATMs being placed in Walgreens stores, NCR has also added the ability for consumers to purchase bitcoin through its LibertyX platform. The ATMs will also be equipped with the NCR Pay360 mobile platform that allows consumers to send and receive cash from a variety of sources with a mobile code.

“When consumers walk into any Walgreens in the country, they will know they have access to safe, reliable everyday banking services delivered through NCR ATMs,” said Don Layden, executive VP, president, NCR Banking. “Through Allpoint and other NCR innovations, Walgreens will be able to better serve its customers while enjoying greater foot traffic driven by the many differentiated services offered. We are proud to be supporting Walgreens’ vision of delivering more joyful lives through better financial health.”

Retailers provide in-store banking services

Walgreens is joining a trend of Tier 1 retailers that offer financial and banking services in their stores. For example, discount retailer Dollar General, which launched a series of new financial services aimed at increasing access to banking options and providing additional customer payment alternatives in March 2022, recently began collaborating with Ibotta to enable delivery of promotions in a coordinated fashion across retailer platforms, third-party publisher sites, and Ibotta’s direct-to-consumer properties.

And Walmart recently joined the Premium Payback real-time rewards redemption network offered by fintech provider FIS. As a result, Walmart customers are now able to redeem their credit card rewards points for real-time discounts at more than 4,700 Walmart stores across the U.S.

Walmart has also teamed up with the payments platform and financial technology company PayNearMe to let customers make cash bill payments to utility companies and other billers at select Walmart stores. Other moves include collaborating with InComm Payments to make the payment tech provider’s Vanilla Direct financial network available nationwide at more than 4,700 stores, and launching its own fintech start-up with Ribbit Capital. 

Walgreens parent Walgreens Boots Alliance operates approximately 13,000 locations across the U.S., Europe and Latin America, including nearly 9,000 locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.